Your Shadow
by DEVILZ CHIK
Summary: Sakura and Syaoran are engaged in front of the whole school just to send the girls away from Syaoran but the truth is: Sakura is just his bodyguard a very bad one, by the way. SEQUEL UP: Shadow of Greed.
1. Last Chocolate

**Your Shadow  
**By: **DEVILZ CHIK**

**Summary: **Sakura and Syaoran are engaged in front of the whole school (just to send the girls away from Syaoran) but the truth is: Sakura is just his bodyguard - a very bad one, by the way.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Last Chocolate

* * *

**_Syaoran's Point of View_

**April 1, 2006  
****8:29pm**

Touya had been restless all night. I did not go out today and I was supposed to be the one who's going nuts for staying at home all day but no. Kinomoto Touya, my top bodyguard, the very calm guy with a hard look on his face, seemed worried about something.

"What is it, Kinomoto?" I finally asked him. He had been by my side for almost three years but we were so not close to calling each other by our first names.

"Nothing, gaki," he replied coldly. Let me assure you that he does his job quite well but he had always said that respecting me was not part of his job description.

I saw him look at his watch for the -enth time and asked him again, "is something bothering you?"

He didn't reply so I asked him again. "What is it, Kinomoto? You can tell me," I continued. "I don't want my bodyguard to be distracted of something."

I heard him growl at me then sighed. "It's my sister's birthday today. I want to make it at home before she gets there but seeing as no one had come yet to replace me to 'protect' a gaki like you, I guess I have no choice but to stay here."

"Oh," I replied in understanding. "You can go. I'm inside the house, anyway. No harm will come to me."

He looked at me unbelievably. What, he couldn't believe that I have a nice streak in my personality? "I can't leave you unguarded, gaki. You know that," he said quietly.

I had to admit that Touya acts like a brother that I never had. But oh God, he sure knew how to be over-protective. I wondered how his little sister bears with him.

"I can take care of myself," I told him. "And you know that, too." I said to him with the same tone that he used on me a little while ago.

Just before he replied, another man entered the room and bowed. He took his position by the door and it was the cue for Touya to go.

"See you tomorrow, gaki," he said, taking off his communication thing and handing it to the new guy. "You can call me if you need me."

"Tell your sister I said happy birthday!" I called back to him before he completely exited the room.

I never really met his sister. According to Touya, she was seven years younger than him and totally different from him, starting off with her eyes and her hair. Occasionally, when Touya and I were bored and too tired to argue, he would start talking about his sister.

Of course, she knew what her brother's job was but she could care less, Touya mentioned one time. She did not care that her brother was the bodyguard of the most wanted heir of the most powerful clan in Hong Kong, hiding out in Japan.

Yeah, I found it interesting that she did not care at all.

* * *

**April 2, 2006  
****10:15pm**

I looked at the person on the bed. It was really Kinomoto, indeed. I didn't want to believe the news at first but I guess they were true.

Touya Kinomoto, possibly the toughest guy I would ever know, lay unconscious. The only sign that he was alive was the steady up and down of his chest. Other than that, he could pass as a dead person to me.

Glancing around the small hospital room, my eyes landed on the person sleeping on a chair near Kinomoto's bed. It was a girl, peacefully sleeping. I did not notice her when I came in. I would blame this dimly lit room.

Her leather jacket served as her blanket. Her legs were resting on a high foot rest with cushions. Her hair was practically covering her face and her arms were obviously crossed in front of her chest.

As if on cue, she started stirring. She slowly stretched out her arms in front, causing her jacket to fall. With very quick reflexes, she caught it before it even touched the ground. Oblivious of my presence, she looked at Touya, sighed and went over to the bed to hold his hand.

It suddenly struck me that I was watching this girl very carefully. My eyes were following her every move. Knowing that I could go on staring at her, I decided to get her attention.

"Hey," I whispered and then I saw her jump hearing my voice. She let go Touya's hand and squinted at my direction. Yes, the room was close to pitch black.

Moments later, her body straightened up and was fully alert.

"Who are you?" she demanded then turned the lights up, making the room a little brighter.

The new light hurt my eyes so I closed them for a while. Once I opened my eyes (and I was sure it was less than two seconds, so maybe it was more of a blink), the girl was just a few feet away from me. She was definitely fast. I didn't even hear any footsteps.

"Oh, it's you," she said slowly after taking a more proper look at me. "Good evening, Mr. Li."

I smirked. "How did you know it's me?" I asked her. I guess the 'disguise' did not work. "And who are you?"

"Kinomoto Sakura," she replied. "Touya's sister. And for the record, that is obviously a wig so yeah… And I guess you're the only person who would visit my brother in the middle of the night."

"Sorry for disturbing you," I said sincerely. "How is he?"

She went back to sit down on her chair, not bothering to ask me to sit down as well but I did anyway. So there we were, each on the side of Kinomoto. I glanced at her again. This was the sister Kinomoto mentioned. We met at last.

I finally understood where he got his protectiveness instincts – from this fragile girl! Who would want to see her hurt?

"He's stable," she answered. "The doctors are not sure when he will wake up."

"But he will, right? Eventually?"

_That_ was a stupid question.

She scoffed and glared at me suddenly. "Why? Because you need your top bodyguard really quickly? You know, this must be the big break he deserves after years of protecting you so just leave him alone."

This girl was putting the blame on me. Predictable. Her brother is in a comatose state. He was attacked last night. Outnumbered, that was what I heard. He was on his way home… because it was his sister's birthday!

Not knowing what else to say, I lamely said, "belated happy birthday."

It was a gloomy greeting and she frowned more.

"Look," I continued. "I didn't want to make him go out on the streets that night. He insisted because he said it was your birthday and… you've been putting him off lately and he thought coming back home on your birthday would make you happy. He insisted on walking." I sighed.

"But you can blame me all you want. It's basically my fault. I should have had escorts with him. He made so many enemies for protecting me. The least I can do is to take the blame."

"I think your paying the bills is more than enough already," she said, gently this time. "I'm not really blaming you. I blame him," she nodded towards Kinomoto, "for being so hard-working… so loyal… so dedicated to his work." She paused. "I appreciate your letting him go on my birthday even though this happened."

She was really the reason of Kinomoto's protectiveness instincts! She… Her personality was so… It made me wonder if she was even capable of keeping grudges or hurting someone else or exploding in anger.

Her whole being was so delicate. Even though I did not know her quite well, just by looking at her, I could pretty much tell. I would love to be her brother as well, to protect her from the temptations of evil in this world.

Sakura turned to me and forced a smile. She held out her hand, I shook it. "It was nice finally meeting you," she said warmly, shaking my hand.

"Same here," I replied. She let go quickly.

"You can stay here for a while if you want," she said, putting on her jacket. "I'll just go get something to eat." She took her bag on the couch and exited the room.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**10:42pm**

It felt weird. Li and I shaking hands over Touya's body. For a moment, I thought my brother would wake up and start his over-protectiveness fiasco. As much as I didn't want his _protectiveness_, I was disappointed when he didn't even comment on me touching a guy's hand. His boss' hand.

I exhaled up to my bangs and opened the door of the room. I closed it quietly behind me and then the next thing I know, someone grabbed my wrist and twisted it behind my back.

It hurt so I did what I was trained to do. I knocked out the guy by hitting the back of his head. Another man attacked me but I was faster this time and was able to point the gun (from my bag) at the unknown guy.

"Who are you? Are you sent to finish off my brother?" I asked, very angrily.

Another figure appeared along the corridor. "Touya's your brother?" he said, not quite believing.

"I should have known," the guy that I was pointing the gun at said. "You're as tough as your brother."

"You sure knocked out Ken here," the newcomer commented as he looked at the unconscious guy on the floor. "We're Li's bodyguards."

I slowly put my gun down and put it back inside my bag. That was when I noticed their uniform, same as Touya's! I let out a forced laugh.

"Hehe," I said slowly. "Sorry!" I bowed at them many times as an apology. "I didn't know! And he attacked me first!" I pointed accusingly at the Ken guy.

"He didn't know who you were," the newcomer said. "We didn't know that you were in the room. Mr. Li insisted to go in alone."

"I'm really sorry," I walked towards the Ken guy and helped the two men to hold him up.

"We're sorry, too," the men said. And I knew that their sorry included sympathy for my brother.

"I'll tell Mr. Li what happened," I offered and opened the door. "Wait here," I told them.

I saw Li beside my brother's bed. He was talking to him but stopped when he heard me come in.

"I just knocked out one of your bodyguards," I confessed quickly and shut my eyes tightly, afraid of his reaction.

This was Li Syaoran! The most powerful heir to the Li clan in Hong Kong!

Instead of an angry blow, I heard him chuckle. I opened one eye to look at him. He was still sitting down and had only merely turned his head to face me.

"You _are_ Kinomoto's sister!" he said. He turned to my brother. "Get well soon."

He then stood up from his chair and walked towards me. I was still expecting an angry outburst so I shut my eyes again.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said with a smirk.

I blushed in shame. "I'm really sorry," I mumbled, letting him walk out of the room first. "And he really attacked me first!" Being defensive as I was, I showed my wrist where the Ken guy touched me. It was still red.

"Let's get that checked," he said then signaled the two guys holding the Ken guy to follow him to the emergency room.

When we reached the corridor, splitting up to the exit and the emergency room, I stopped walking. "I don't need it checked," I assured him. "I'll go now. And I'm really, really sorry for this."

I opened my bag and took out a bar of chocolate. My last one. Oh well, I'll just buy more.

I slipped in the chocolate bar inside Ken's jacket's pocket that hung loosely on one man's shoulder. "Tell him I gave him that," I told them.

Bowing one last time to all of them, I walked towards the exit to the darkness of the streets.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 2:  
**_Syaoran's Point of View_

_Kinomoto Sakura, a secret service agent as well? She was at the same league as her brother… as each of my bodyguards?  
_…  
"_Sakura Kinomoto," I jumped hearing the name. I didn't want to know where this was going. "She still goes to school. You'll attend the same school as her – there you go, one bodyguard."  
_…  
_I watched her as she took off her jacket before settling down on the chair. "Well let me tell you now," Sakura said. "Most of the assignments that the agency gives me are more of baby-sitting." I didn't see the big deal. "I don't think I can manage to baby-sit someone like _you_."

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**How was it? I hope you like it! It really is just an intro. Please review! I'm begging you! Flame me if you want but please send me a review. It makes me feel loads better knowing that people take time to read my story. Once again, please review! And yup, that's the preview out there. Lots of things are meant to happen. Please, people! Review! _

**End of Chapter 1**

_xxx _**DEVILZ CHIK**


	2. First Day

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Author's Notes**:  
I loved all of your reviews! I hope they will keep coming because it absolutely makes me happy! And as a gift to my lovely reviewers, here's the second chapter. Hopefully, you will like this chapter as much as you've loved the first one. By the way, Syaoran calls Touya "Kinomoto", ok? 

**Summary: **Sakura and Syaoran are engaged in front of the whole school (just to send the girls away from Syaoran) but the truth is: Sakura is just his bodyguard - a very bad one, by the way.

* * *

**Chapter 2: First Day

* * *

**_Syaoran's Point of View_

**April 2, 2006  
****11:24pm**

Childish. But cute. The bar of chocolate was on the side table beside Kei's bed. I found myself smirking thinking of Kinomoto Sakura. Nothing like her brother when it comes to personality (no offense, Kinomoto) but definitely just like her brother when it comes to fighting.

Even though I did not see how she successfully knocked out someone twice her size, I pretty much know how tough she was.

"Why did Ken attack her again?" I asked Yuri.

"She looked really sneaky when she came out," he replied. "Ken was probably surprised and acted on instincts. I was about to attack her as well but she pointed a gun at me. And I could tell she was determined to shoot, sir."

"Her hands were not shaking," Kouta added. "She's from the same agency as us. She's the youngest -- off-duty during school days."

Kinomoto Sakura, an agent as well? She was at the same league as her brother… as each of my bodyguards? She was capable of killing someone? No, no… Someone like her should not be one of those people! But maybe, she was influenced so much by her brother.

That could not be it, though, because why would Kinomoto protect her if she could manage just as well as himself?

"Touya was definitely against his sister working as an agent, of course, being a protective brother that he is," Kouta was saying. "That's why being an agent is only her 'summer job'."

"Isn't she the only agent who goes to school?" Yuri asked then whistled. "She makes me feel old. I'm only 26."

"How old is she?" I asked, joining in.

"She just turned seventeen," Kouta replied. "You're even older than her, sir."

"Oh, shut it," I told them then stood up. "A mere 17-year-old knocked out old Ken and gave him a concussion." I trailed off thoughtfully. "Yuri, stay with Ken until he wakes up. Go back to the house as soon as he's ok to go."

Yuri nodded. Kouta and I went outside towards the car to go home. It would be four months later until I see Kinomoto Sakura again. And I didn't even know what was going to happen after that.

* * *

**July 15, 2006  
****7:44pm**

I made it a habit to visit Kinomoto everyday. As if the gods above forbid it, I never saw Sakura again. Maybe it was because I usually came in the evening. But it was summer. Oh yeah, she has a 'summer job'.

Secretly wondering where she could possibly be, I looked around the streets that I could see from Kinomoto's hospital room. The streetlights were lighting up the whole city and I knew that from the vastness of the city, the seventeen-year-old secret agent could be anywhere.

With one last look at Touya's unchanged condition, I decided to go out and that meant a whole security team with me since Kinomoto was still in the hospital.

It did not bother me at all like it used to – five men in black suits following me around the mall and an additional twenty or so men around the vicinity of the mall itself. Attention-grabber, I know, but somehow, I liked the attention.

Two girls came inside the Sports Shop we were in. While I was waiting for my shoes, I could not help but overhear their conversation.

"I'm so excited for our senior years!" the first girl said, browsing through the sweaters' rack.

"Hell yeah! And you know one good thing about us?" asked the second girl.

From the giggles of the first girl, she knew the answer but she still asked, "what?"

"We don't even _need_ to go to college!" exclaimed the second girl. "I mean, we have secured jobs in our family's companies already! While everyone's freaking out about college applications, we'll be enjoying our last year in high school one-hundred percent!"

I didn't have the chance to listen more as the saleslady handed me my pair of shoes. I had no choice but to pay for them and leave the shop.

For the rest of the night, I was distracted, continuously thinking about high school. What would it be like? I was home-schooled all my life and maybe it would be nice to go to a real school.

Watching movies about different high school lives of teenagers was always enjoyable so maybe the real thing would be fun as well.

Besides, I would like to experience a real graduation ceremony (with the gown and the cap). And meet different friends and teachers.

"Immature," my mom said when I told her about my idea. "We both know that you are smarter than those students who go to school."

"I just want to know what it's like," I pressed on. "You can have me followed by bodyguards. I wouldn't care!"

"But son, do you really want to go to a school?" I nodded. I waited patiently as I watched my mom close her eyes to think. Finally, she sighed. "How can you make friends with bodyguards following you?"

I beamed at her.

"You will only have one bodyguard," she began. "Kinomoto Sakura," I jumped hearing the name. Suddenly, I didn't want to know where this was going. "She still goes to school – this means, yes, you will go to her school. No one shall know that she is your bodyguard. Don't do anything to ruin the poor girl in school, ok?"

I nodded dumbly. I didn't really know what she meant by her last statement and I, for a moment, repressed the memory of Sakura being my future bodyguard. So, nonetheless, I was happy.

I was going to school. At last.

* * *

**July 16, 2006  
****4:56pm  
**_Sakura's Point of View_

I was still groaning while I was on my way to the hospital. Bodyguard of Li Syaoran. I may be as good as my brother in 'martial arts' but not as patient.

How do they expect me to concentrate on school with a job to do?

There was a reason why being an agent was my summer job only!

The pressure was definitely on me!

When I reached the hallway of Touya's room, I saw two men in black suits outside. I checked my watch – five o' clock sharp. Whoa, Li out of his mansion in the middle of the afternoon? This was a first.

I waved at the guy as I recognized him as Yuri – the guy I pointed a gun at. And the other guy was Ken. I immediately bowed in apology, remembering our last meeting… almost four months ago.

"I'm really sorry for what happened," I said timidly.

"It's ok," he replied, smiling. "I loved the chocolate."

I smiled back then waved at them again s I entered the room.

When Li turned to me, he looked surprised as if he had just seen a ghost.

"Are you alright?" I asked him, noticing that he was really pale.

He nodded and turned away. I chose to ignore his strange behavior and just walked towards Touya's bed. I settled myself on my usual chair. The sun seemed not to want to set down yet at this time. It was absolutely the summer season.

Somehow, my eyes landed on Li. Then I noticed something different about him.

"That's your real hair, right?" I asked him. His hair color was chestnut brown and I still doubted if it was his real hair or not because who could have a really messy hair like that?

My question made him smile. He unconsciously tried to fix his hair. "Yeah," he replied. "The disguise was useless anyway, right?"

"For me, yeah," I smirked. "So… I guess you're my future classmate, huh?"

"Yeah…" he trailed off.

"I think you should know that I mostly baby-sit," he was looking at me as if it was not a big deal but for me, it was! "And I'm even bad at it! So I don't know how I can manage baby-sitting _you_!"

He glared at me for a moment, probably offended that I regarded watching him as baby-sitting. But then, he chuckled afterwards. "This is coming from a girl who knocked out one of my bodyguards?"

"That doesn't count!" I snapped. "You can't keep using that against me! I acted instinctively during the situation! I can't possibly study and watch your every move in school! And what do you expect me to tell my friends about you?"

I groaned yet once again, getting more frustrated than ever. "_Why_ do you have to go to school in the first place?"

He was about to answer but I did not let him. It was rhetorical. "Everyone will know that you're Li Syaoran! The Li Syaoran! And I can't be discreet while watching you… or maybe I can. But what will they still think--"

He shushed me suddenly, stopping my babbling.

"Look," he said quite calmly. "Hopefully, it will be ok." 'Ok!' That's all he had to say! 'Ok!' "Just do what you do normally and I'll try not to get into your way. I'll adjust easily (hopefully). Besides, threats have died down – that's why I'm here now, not at night, by the way."

I just nodded, speechless.

Yeah, maybe it would be ok. The agency did not require me to send in reports every month, which makes this new assignment of mine really great. They would need to know if I was doing my job properly or not (unless Syaoran gets kidnapped). In addition to that, there is security in school. And it is pretty tight.

Sighing to myself, yeah, everything would be alright.

* * *

**August 7, 2006  
****7:20am  
**_Syaoran's Point of View_

After a lot of thinking, this would be really great! Not only would I going to school, hopefully, I would also uncover the mysteries surrounding Kinomoto Sakura.

Well, forgive me but Kinomoto just made me so intrigued about his sister over the previous years. There was absolutely something special about her.

Ken and Yuri were hesitant to drop me off at school. And I thought I saw them frown when I got out of the car.

What I didn't hear from them was:

"_Little rich kid in high school?"_

"_I can just see Touya's scowl with Mr. Li being with his sister…"_

Following the direction on the walls, I successfully made my way to the guidance office to get my schedule, my locker number and a few textbooks.

According to the guidance counselor, I had time to go to my locker. So clutching the strap of my shoulder bag, I went my way to the senior locker hallway.

I had to admit that the school was huge – larger than I had imagined. It was an elite school so that means sons and daughters of big-time CEOs and diplomats go here.

There were different posters on the bulletin boards already. Sports and fine arts were pretty popular along with service learning activities.

What does Sakura do? Sports? Music? Volunteer work?

I shook my head, erasing the thoughts away.

Stop. Thinking. About. Her.

Oh wow, just as I said that to myself, I saw a certain auburn head girl standing beside my locker, with a few people.

When she saw me, her smile disappeared. I was not sure why. Was my presence really bothering her? Her friends noticed her face drop so she forced her smile back.

Quietly as I could, I walked closer to my locker after she moved slightly away from it. Before I could even turn the knob for the second number, the first bell rang.

I heard Sakura saying goodbye to her friends. The crowd of students slowly dispersed as well and I was surprised that Sakura stayed behind.

"Hey," she greeted. "So… you made it!" she said chirpily, and I knew that she was trying to make it easier for me. Not that she needed to do that.

Finally opening my locker, I put all my textbooks inside. I assumed I would not need them for my first day.

"And you opened your locker!" she said enthusiastically. "Good job!" she gave me a pat on the back then I realized she was mocking me!

I gave her a fierce look and slammed my locker shut.

She winced at the loud sound and I smirked. "So… who's your homeroom teacher?" she asked me.

I gave her my schedule as we started walking towards the classrooms. She gasped as she finished comparing our schedules.

"We have the exact same schedule!" she said. "And my locker's beside yours. It's alphabetical order."

"Why do I have the feeling that my mom arranged for all of this?" I thought out loud.

She shrugged and said, "Maybe because your mom did plan all of this."

Sakura stopped in front of a room, opened a door and walked in. She beckoned me to follow her and I reluctantly did. Many of the students in the class knew her… almost all of them greeted her a 'good morning'.

She was pretty popular.

I was not really sure where to sit so I took the empty chair behind her. Soon afterwards, the teacher came in as the final bell rang.

"Everyone, settle down," the teacher commanded then the whole class became silent. "First of all, welcome back to school but I believe that we have a new student."

All of the students in the class started murmuring about the "new student". I simply observed how quickly they became bumblebees. Some of them even turned towards me and pointed.

Maybe they were too distracted greeting Sakura this morning that they didn't notice me.

"Hmm," the teacher stalked on, looking at his attendance sheet. "According to this, Li Syaoran is our new student."

Yet again, everyone gasped and started whispering to each other.

Oh, this was hell.

"Mr. Li Syaoran?" the teacher called out, scanning the room.

Sakura looked back at me and had a questioning look on her face that said 'why-aren't-you-doing-anything?'

I raised my hand then the teacher noticed me. "Well, Mr. Li, why don't you tell us more about yourself?"

The class suddenly became quiet and was all staring at me intently. I slowly stood up and for once in my life, I was unsure of what to say.

This was what they call first day blues, I guess.

"Hi, I'm Li Syaoran," I started, actually sounding very confident. "I'm 18. I like playing soccer and I also enjoy math…"

As soon as I was done, everyone clapped but I knew that they very much know about my name.

Lunchtime soon came around. Sakura and I walked to our lockers together to drop me off some binders and some books that were given to us by earlier teachers. Nothing had come out wrongly so far. Everything was going perfectly smooth.

"So… you want to come eat lunch with us?" Sakura offered.

"I'd love to since you're the only one here that I know," I answered.

"Oh c'mon, you seem to be bonding pretty well with Hikaru in English a while ago," she said.

I simply rolled my eyes. "I don't think the guy wants me to eat lunch with him," I replied. "Anyway, I have to go to the guidance office. Do you think I'm in trouble already?"

She smiled. "Naaah," she assured me. "She probably just wants to know how you're doing. Well, if you're done talking to her, you can look for us in the canteen. We're always near the clock. Don't worry, the clock is big – you won't miss us."

I nodded then we went on our separate ways.

Before really going my own way, I looked back at Sakura's retreating back and just turned away from her when I could no longer see her. I was watching her like an idiot.

Like a lovesick puppy.

I need to get a grip.

Sakura was right. The guidance counselor just asked me how my day was so far. Argh, I wasted ten minutes of lunch for that. Sorry, I was starving.

_And I wanted to see Sakura. _

No, that's not true!

When I got out of the guidance office, on the other hand, the hallway was unbelievably full of girls. Maybe they all need to talk to the guidance counselor but their stares at me were telling me otherwise.

I pretended to not notice them and walked to the canteen as fast as I could. The hurried footsteps behind me, though, proved that I was not doing a great job. They were following me!

Soon enough, a girl caught up with me. She stopped me by pulling my bag. I grabbed it back from her but I stayed rooted at my place. These girls needed some good shouting.

"Li Syaoran, right?" she asked, fluttering her eyes disgustingly. I nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure if you promise to leave me alone," I replied rudely. First impressions? Whatever, I don't care what impression I'm giving right now but these girls were actually ruder than me!

She huffed at my last remark. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Do you want me as your girlfriend?"

How thick can this girl be!

"Of course not! I hardly know you!"

"You can't say no!" she whined and I just rolled my eyes.

"I think I just did," I said then walked away.

The other girls walked away seeing how mean I was but this certain red head girl was persistent.

"You can only say no to me if you're engaged! My family happens to be a strong family like yours!"

Though I knew that there was no family in Japan as strong as ours (no offense, of course), I decided to ride along with her craziness.

An idea came to me. At that time, I didn't know how dead I was going to be. I didn't think of the consequences that might occur hereafter.

"As a matter of fact, I am engaged," I stated plainly.

"To who?" she shrieked.

"To Kinomoto Sakura."

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my mom's own words came ringing inside my head. _Don't do anything to ruin the poor girl in school, ok?_

Crap, I think I just did.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 3:  
**_Sakura's point of view of Syaoran's first day of school – conversation with her friends in the canteen while Syaoran was still in the guidance office.  
_…  
_Syaoran tells her about the engagement.

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**This was pretty long because I really loved all of your reviews! I know that I pretty much dragged it along but hey, more details about the two, the better, right? Are you all wondering how Sakura will react? Well, please review! Your comments will really make me happy and I promise to update soon. Your reviews serve as my fuel for typing up the next chapter! Thanks for reading! _

For the reviewer who asked me how long this would be, I'm not really sure at the moment but probably, 15-16 chapters.

**End of Chapter 2**

_xxx_** DEVILZ CHIK**


	3. First Reaction

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

**Author's Notes:** I know I promised Chapter 3 to be out last week but I couldn't really kick out my sister from the computer. I don't know why but I couldn't write it on paper first like what I did on the last two chapters so yeah, that's why this was delayed. I hope I didn't make you wait that much. And I'm sick right now – second time this month, which is annoying.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 3: First Reaction

* * *

**_Sakura's Point Of View_

**August 7, 2006  
****11:36pm**

I found myself walking away from Li awkwardly. It was as if another soul had possessed my body and was walking for me but I was still inside my shell, aware of everything that was happening. Aware that I was freakin' walking _too_ slow. Too effin' slow. And I don't even know why.

I could feel that someone was watching me. My very developed focus and attention led me to that conclusion but I didn't want to look around and know who it was. Whatever.

Walking straight to the canteen, it occurred to me that maybe I should have gone with Li. I knew that he could handle himself pretty well when dealing with a bunch of high school bullies but leaving him alone to go to the guidance counselor might be a bad idea. I shook my head, who would want to bully him anyway?

Our usual round table, located near the clock of the canteen, was filled with people already. My friends were already there, their lunches out and were already having a very nice conversation. I sat beside Chiharu who was sitting beside Yamazaki. Rika was quietly eating her lunch while talking with Chiharu about her summer vacation.

"Sakura," Yamazaki greeted. "How was your day so far?"

I smiled at him. "Good," I simply replied, completely refusing to elaborate on how good it was.

"Did you know that Li Syaoran goes to this school now?" he asked me.

It was typical for Yamazaki to open up a topic with a question then further explain the topic, developing it into a big lie but this was not a lie. I should know.

I took my lunch out, stalling to answer the question. He was waiting for my answer but all of a sudden, Naoko was rushing to our table, clearly out of breath.

"Kinomoto Sakura," she said loudly, settling down beside me. Why use my full name? "You have the exact same schedule as our new student, Li Syaoran! Why didn't you tell me?"

I looked around the table; there were patient faces all staring at me. "You didn't ask," I answered.

Naoko sighed. "Well," she said, looking smart. "You all know that I'm the new editor of our school newspaper and you, my friend, will give me all the details you know about Li Syaoran. He will be on our first issue next week."

Oh, crap. "Are you sure you really need me for that?" I asked. "You can just go talk to Li. He's a nice guy."

"Of course, I'll interview him too," Naoko said, matter-of-factly. "But I need to interview another person, too, which is going to be you. So when will it be? When are you free? Where's Tomoyo, by the way?"

That's Naoko. Always changing the subject, which is my advantage right now. "Yeah, where's Tomoyo?" I asked, noticing that my all-time best friend was not in the canteen yet.

"She went to the faculty office," Chiharu replied. "About this year's choir or something."

"Oh," was all I said and then we were in deep conversation about our summer vacations that was abruptly stopped by the first bell this morning.

All throughout our friendly conversations, I was still thinking if I should tell them about my job here in school as Li's bodyguard. They knew about my summer job anyway (that's why it was fun talking about it since I was Chiharu's 'bodyguard' this summer for the month her parents were gone, again).

They also knew that Touya was Li's bodyguard but they were aware about his accident about five months ago. They never asked, though, who was Li's bodyguard now.

Other than pondering about whether to tell my friends or not, I was also wondering where Li could be. He could not have been lost. He managed to get to his locker this morning so he can well enough manage to be here by now.

It had been twenty minutes or so.

My guts were killing me. This uneasy feeling that I was feeling right now. Was he kidnapped already?

That thought scares me even more.

"Guys, I'll just go to the bathroom, ok?" I told them.

"Don't you want us to go with you?" Rika asked me.

"No, I'll be fine," oh yes, people. I never went to the bathroom alone.

They shrugged at my new behavior. Maybe they all thought that since we were in our senior years, I decided to be more independent in school.

I stood up and exited the canteen. The hallway was empty. Everyone was in the canteen, more or less. The gyms were closed on the first day of school so no one would be playing basketball. The field was not ready yet; it would be ready next week for soccer tryouts.

I turned to the corner where the guidance office was located. I thought it would take me longer to find Li but there he was!

When he saw me, he looked like he didn't want to see me. Or he didn't want to be seen with me. I ignored it, either way.

"Did it take that long?" I asked him. He just nodded. He was curiously looking around, as if really worried about something. "Is there something wrong?"

He shook his head.

Before I could say another word, someone emerged from the bathroom near the canteen. A female redhead. Aha, none other than Aiko Haiku, famous for getting all the guys that she wants.

She saw the two of us and that was when I saw her puffy, red eyes. She had been crying. On the first day of school? Why?

No matter how much she had annoyed me over the past few years, I asked, "Haiku, are you okay?"

She looked at us back and forth and let out a very loud wail. After that, she ran away to the lockers hallway. I looked at Li to see his reaction but I was guessing that he was hiding his real reaction from me with that blank expression of his.

I just shrugged it off. Haiku probably didn't get new school shoes for her first day from her daddy.

"That was Aiko Haiku," I told Li to lessen the awkwardness in the atmosphere. "Every month, she gets a new guy – popular and seniors, mostly. Everyone knows what she does until junior year so it became hard for her to get new guys. Later on, we just assumed that she threatens them to be with her. She belongs to a powerful family." I paused. "But I guess, not as powerful as yours."

I turned to look at him but he still had that blank expression. Fine, this was how he wants it to be? I was just being nice!

"Just… watch out for her, I guess," I continued. "She mostly has her eyes on new guys."

He nodded to show that he was listening and that was enough for me.

We reached the canteen, finally. All heads were turned towards us. Well, mostly him, I guess. And then, the fuss started.

"_Dude, famous Li Syaoran in our school!"_

"_Oh my gosh, he is like so hot! I want to like talk to him."_

"_I wonder if he has any classes with me this afternoon."_

"_Holy hell, Li Syaoran is soon going to be a part of some teenage angst."_

"Sakura, you told us you were just going to the bathroom," Naoko said when we came to our table. "I didn't know Li here hangs out in the girls' bathroom nowadays."

Li sat down beside me and took out his own lunch, giving my friends a small smile.

"Li, meet Yanagisawa Naoko," I introduced. "She's this year's editor of the school newspaper."

"It's nice to meet you," Li said politely, shaking hands with Naoko.

"It's nic_er_ to meet you," Naoko said happily. "How would you like to be in the first issue of our newspaper that will be out next week?"

"Er," Li started, unsure of what to say. He looked at me for some help.

"Naoko, I'm not sure Li is ready to answer your question," I explained to her. "The guy is just settling in."

"Fine," Naoko sighed, giving up. "It would really be nice though to know what you think about our school. I mean, this is your first school, right?"

Li nodded. "I was home-schooled since I was a kid," Li replied.

"Being home-schooled was so not fun," Chiharu joined in.

"This is Mihara Chiharu," I introduced. Li shook hands with her as well. "I might as well introduce Yamazaki Takashi and Sasaki Rika." Seeing Li shake hands with my friends, I was sure that he would be sticking around with us for a while. Not that it bothered me.

Li got along with all of them pretty quickly. He and Chiharu talked about home-schooling. Yes, Chiharu was home-schooled until third grade then she finally convinced her father that she wanted to have friends from school.

Later on, he was talking to Yamazaki about soccer. He was planning to try out for the team, too, which made me smile for no reason at all.

Maybe I was glad that Li was accomplishing what he wanted to do here in school. He wanted to feel like a kid before taking all the responsibilities as the leader of his clan.

God, I almost felt sorry for him for carrying that burden.

Naoko tried and tried again to schedule an interview with Li but Li didn't want to. Well, maybe not yet since he was new after all.

Tomoyo never showed up during lunch and sadly, we didn't have classes together in the afternoon as well. I hoped that I would see her before I go home, though. And besides, I did want her to meet Li.

And I need to tell someone about my job – and she was the perfect person to talk to.

* * *

**  
1:06pm  
**_Syaoran's Point of View_

I stared longingly at the clock. Almost one and a half hours more until dismissal time. I desperately wanted to go back home. I had no idea my first day would be this horrible.

I had not mentioned my little encounter with Aiko Haiku to Sakura. My main reason was that I had no idea _how_ to tell her.

'_Oh, yeah, Sakura, please pretend to be engaged with me because I don't think I can handle girls following me around while I'm still single_.' The words ran through my head. It sounded ridiculous even to _me_.

I was sure that I was going to die by the end of today.

Sakura was sitting in front of me and she looked very interested about what the teacher was saying about the history of Europe, which we would be learning for the next couple of weeks. Waah, I don't _care_ about Europe!

Finally, the bell rang and we were off to our next class. Yet again, I was walking side by side with Sakura (since we do have classes together all day!). My eyes never spotted a certain redhead after lunch, which was good because I did not want to deal with her again.

_But hey, don't you think I handled it pretty well a while ago?_

Urgh, who am I kidding? I just messed up someone's life!

Seeing her so miserable a while ago made me feel bad and I could not even tell Sakura that I was the reason she was crying!

I was still not positive which makes me feel worse – that I made a girl cry or that I haven't told Sakura yet.

Screw it. Our last class was Math and hopefully, it would keep my mind off of things.

"Welcome to our school, Li Syaoran," the teacher said after introducing herself. I merely nodded because I was so aware that everyone in the school by now knew who I was.

I listened quite intently about our curriculum for math and I was quite disappointed to know that it would be _too_ easy for me. Calculus and Statistics, I could do those with my eyes closed!

Surprisingly, I got along with Sakura's friends during lunch. They all seemed nice and _very_… laidback. Yamazaki would be going with me to soccer tryouts next week. I could pretty much talk about Mihara about home school and all the pain that goes with it. Sasaki seemed to be a quite one and Yanagisawa was so eager about her newspaper.

But I guess, all in all, they were very… understanding. They didn't even make a fuss that I was hanging out with them. Maybe, except for Yanagisawa –

"Hey, Li," Sakura said, turning her head to me. She had a smile on her face. "You said a while ago that you're good in math," I nodded, asking her to go on. "Hhmm, what about helping me sometimes?"

I stared at her dumbly. She was too damn… _cute_! And can she _please_ wipe that smile off of her face? It's just making me stare at her even more!

"Sure," I replied.

* * *

**2:30pm**

Alas, the bell that marks the dismissal time. We packed up our things, putting the math worksheets inside our bags. I was sure that I saw Sakura crumple hers up and put it under her table. Funny.

I should tell her today, right? Besides, I did not want her to hear it from another person. I breathed in a long breath before turning to her. The fact that I was practically with her all afternoon assured me that no one had told her yet.

"Hey, Sakura," I said. "Do you want me to drop you off at home?"

She smiled at me appreciatively. "I'm actually going to pass by Touya at the hospital," she said softly and her eyes suddenly showed some hints of sadness.

There had been no improvements on Kinomoto's state.

"Then, we can go together," I told her.

"Are you sure it's not going to bother you?" she asked me while we walked out of the room and on our way now to the lockers hallway.

I shook my head. "Just think of it as my thanks for being with me all day today," I said. "You made my first day… a little bit easier for me."

She chuckled. "I really didn't have a choice, you know," every word of her statement was so true.

The lockers hallway was packed with people and I was afraid that I was going to lose Sakura with the crowd around us. Most of all, with all the people whispering loudly about me. Will they ever stop?

I saw Sakura's friends near our lockers, waiting for us.

I busied myself, putting stuff in my locker while she said her quick goodbyes to them. When I closed my locker shut and was ready to go, I saw Sakura anxiously waiting for someone.

"Are you waiting for someone?" I asked her.

"Yeah, actually, I haven't seen my best friend since this morning," she explained. "I sent her a message to meet me here but," she paused as her phone vibrated between her right hand. She quickly read the message. "Oh, she can't meet me," she frowned after reading it then faced me. "I guess, we're going, then."

I nodded and walked with her to the exit of the school. Heads turning towards our direction were countless. Sakura didn't seem to mind or even notice. She was too… preoccupied. Who was this best friend of hers?

Crap, is it a guy friend? No, she said 'she', stupid!

Urgh, why do I even waste my time thinking about it!

Syaoran, you should think of how to tell her about what you told Haiku!

We were now waiting for my car to go around to the gates of the school.

So… how?

What was the best approach in this?

She was kicking some rocks on the ground and she found it very fascinating that there was dust now on her shoes.

It was now or never. Think of it as a life and death situation.

"Sakura, I did something a while ago that I think you're not going to like," I began. She was going to ask 'what' but I did not let her. "That girl… Haiku, she approached me on my way to the canteen after I went to the guidance office. Well, she asked me out – no, she did more than that – she asked me to be her boyfriend. Can you believe that?" I paused to take another breath.

"I thought it was really rude and then," I continued. "Well, cut the story short, the only way I could make her leave me alone was to tell her that I was engaged." My car stopped in front of us and she slightly turned her attention to it so I don't think she was paying too much attention on what I was going to say next.

"Sakura, I told her I was engaged to you," I said softly.

The color in her face was drained away – as in she paled then all of a sudden, it became red. I was not sure if it was from fury or embarrassment or flattery or whatever. If you thought that was weird, well, something was weirder –

She started cracking up.

"I'm not kidding," I stated clearly to her. She was trying hard to not laugh anymore and it was a very hard thing to do, I guess, for someone like her who laughs at the simplest things (although this was a serious matter!).

When she could catch her breath, she looked at me but said nothing.

"That's why she was crying a while ago when we saw her," I explained further.

I don't really know why I'm clarifying things out for her. Maybe it was because I was not expecting her to take this very lightly.

"I don't really know what she's capable of doing," I continued, since she was still not uttering anything. "But if ever something happens, whatever it is…"

"So you don't know what's going to happen?" she asked me with a blank expression on her face.

I shook my head, "well, no. Do you know?" I asked curiously, still wondering why she was not mad.

"Well," she paused, looking at the ground then at me again. She inhaled then exhaled and I was holding my breath, waiting for her reply. "This happens first."

She brought her hand up in the air and slapped me. Hard.

As painful as it was, I still smiled because that was the reaction I was expecting from her after all.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 4:  
**_Update on Touya's condition – whether to pull the plug or not.  
_…  
_Does Sakura stay mad at Syaoran?  
_…  
_Tomoyo's first appearance.

* * *

**  
Author's Notes:  
**Let me tell you that I'm putting up previews for the next chapter so that you have something to look forward to and so that I won't lose my train of thoughts. I hope you liked this chapter! Send a review, please! I'm sorry again for the delay. You have no idea how to sneak away from my sister just to finish typing this up (because you know, they don't know I write fanfictions). Hehe, anyway, please review! _

The drama shall begin soon, by the way.

**End of Chapter 3**

_xxx _**DEVILZ CHIK**


	4. Last Hit

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**The glitch that had scared me to death. I was not getting any review alerts so I thought no one reviewed my latest chapter. I love you guys for reviewing! And I'm dealing with my little sister; I'm letting her do her homework first. The chapter's title, by the way, is only temporary. If you have suggestions, feel free to include it in your review. 

On with the next chapter now! You know the drill, review in the end!

**Disclaimer:  
**I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Last Hit

* * *

**_Syaoran's Point of View_

**August 7, 2006  
****2:46pm**

As soon as her hand left my face, she was fuming in anger. I could pretty much tell now that she was red from anger. Who wouldn't? Just look at her. My bodyguards, Ken and Yuri, were out of the car almost immediately, curious what was happening.

I was too scared to talk. For every second that passed by, her glare was starting to look a lot like her brother's.

"I was nice to you _all_ day," she said through her gritted teeth. "And this is how you repay me – you just ruined my entire high school life, _Mr_. Li. I thought you were different, but I guess, you _are_ just some rich, spoiled brat! I wonder how my brother put up with the likes of you!"

I tried to defend myself but it was no use.

"It was only your first day and you already caused trouble! I wouldn't have minded it so much if it wasn't _me_ you're troubling, but it _is_!" she kept shouting. The students were starting to approach the school gates and sooner, they would be hearing this commotion.

She growled, stomping her feet on the ground with frustration and finally, attempted to kick my side but Ken and Yuri were quick to stop her leg from even hitting me.

"Kinomoto, I don't think you should be doing that," Yuri told her.

She glared at the two of them, probably for interrupting but was smart enough to listen to him.

She huffed furiously. "I don't _ever_ want to see you again!" she said dismissively and walked away. Before she could walk very far, she stopped and looked back at us. "Don't you _dare _follow me!"

Ken and Yuri turned to me and they both had disappointed faces. "Mr. Li, what did you do to her?"

Hesitating, I replied, "I told this random girl who was bugging me that I was engaged to Sakura so that she'll leave me alone."

Ken shook his head in disapproval. "I'm sorry, sir," he said. "But I would have done the same thing if I were her."

Yuri and I looked at him queerly, wondering as to why he would understand a teenage girl.

"I dealt with my little sister most of the time when I was in college," he began explaining. "Her reputation was really important and any one in high school would not have wanted the whole school knowing that he or she is engaged unless of course, he or she is currently in a steady relationship. But hey, Kinomoto and you – you _are_ just mere acquaintances."

"It was a bad move, sir," Yuri added. Yes, I could see that.

I nodded, but not clearly understanding exactly why Sakura laughed a while ago. What was funny?

I knew I would have gotten badly injured if Sakura really did kick me. I also knew that I would not have stopped her from hurting me physically although I was very much aware that I could.

Don't ask me the reason why – that, I do not know.

I went inside the car since I did not want to converse with any of the students who were waiting for their cars near the school gates.

"Where are we off to?" Yuri asked, seating on the driver's seat. Ken settled on the front seat while I stayed at the back.

"Hospital," I replied. "Let's visit Kinomoto."

Remembering that Sakura was on her way there and that she told us not to follow her, I said, "drive slowly."

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**3:14pm**

I was tired already and I was just almost halfway to the hospital. Hhmm, maybe it was because I was stomping my feet so much. Grrr, I am just so effin' pissed right now!

He thought he could just say what he wants? And I barely know him! There is no way we can pull _anything_ off in front of the school. As much as I would like to _actually_ forgive him for what he has done, there is just no way because it was a _bad_ move!

In the first place, couldn't he think of a way other than that to get rid of Haiku?

Hopeless.

Cursing myself yet again, I tried to think how much trouble I was in now. Yuri-san and Ken-san probably informed the agency about my behavior a while ago towards Li.

Hopefully, they would understand and take my side. Who would not have been so furious? He was _way_ out of line.

And, what would Onii-chan say to all of this!

After ten more minutes of walking, I finally reached the hospital and went up to Touya's room. There was no one inside so I assumed that Li would not be visiting. After all, I did say not to follow me.

Touya had not been showing any progress. All his vital organs were stable but his brain was not showing any differences. He seemed to be in a dream-like state for almost five months now. Is that even normal?

I held his hand – the thing I do whenever I come here.

Sighing, I said, "Onii-chan, I thought I was the sleepyhead. Look at you; you've been asleep for more than five months." I paused. "You're missing a lot of things. And I miss you. Dad and I miss you."

Speaking of Dad, noticing the fresh flowers on the bedside table of Touya, he had been here. I stood up then walked to the door, hoping to see if my dad was just talking to Touya's doctor.

And indeed, he was. I turned to the hallway where the doctor's office was and saw my dad having a very deep conversation with the doctor. The doctor noticed me outside so my dad turned to look at me as well.

His look was really grave. The doctor excused himself when I entered the room.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, before he could leave the room.

"I'll leave your father to tell you," he replied simply. "Take care now."

He closed the door shut and I looked at my father, waiting for an explanation. "Dad, what's wrong?" I asked once again. "You look so serious."

"Sakura, honey," he said softly, beckoning me to take a seat across from him. "I need to make a very hard decision soon – actually, _we_ need to make the decision." My dad was avoiding my eyes and I could tell that this was bad.

"The doctor just told me that other than Touya's organs functioning very well, there is only a slight chance that he will wake up," he continued.

After that, maybe my ears self-destructed or maybe it went on standby mode because I could not hear anything that my father was saying anymore. I could see his lips moving but I could not really tell what he was saying but somehow, I understood where this was going.

"…let him go."

"No!" I snapped. My dad did not look so surprised so I assumed that he was expecting that. "Dad, you can't do that! How can you even think of letting go Touya? He's just asleep. He _will_ wake up."

"But sweetheart, the doctors said that–"

"I don't care what they said," I was now standing up and my heartbeat was increasing. "We should not give up on Touya, Dad."

There was a moment of silence between us. My dad was frowning and I could tell that he was having a hard time as well. Why is life being such a bitch to me today?

"Sakura, just think about it, okay?" he said softly with tired eyes.

I shook my head in great disapproval. "I'm not _even_ going to think about it! I'm never going to agree to this! _Dad_, please don't do it."

It came out as a plea, maybe it was. I am never letting go of Touya. He _will_ wake up.

Tears were starting to well up in my eyes. I could not even bear thinking of how my life would be if Touya would not be there at all.

I love my onii-chan. I love him so much that I don't want to lose him. Not like this.

Touya would want us to be strong with this kind of situation so I would be strong.

I sniffed as my first batch of tears started to fall. "C'mon, dad. You never gave up on me. Don't give up on him, too."

My father looked at me helplessly and at that moment, I could not look at him any longer. I ran out of the room; my tears were now freely falling, no longer bound to my will.

They just kept on falling.

* * *

All I could think about was to get away from Dad for the meantime. Maybe I should runaway and send him to a guilt trip. I was still crying and maybe I just passed by Touya's room but all of a sudden, someone behind me grabbed my wrist, stopping me from running. 

I looked back to see who it was and when I saw the person, maybe my anger level reached to its limit and I brought my free hand up in the air to slap him.

But he stopped my hand midair.

"I'm not going to let you slap me again," he commented cockily, proud of himself from stopping me to hit him.

I growled in frustration (yet once again) and struggled to get my hands free from his grasp. I wanted to get away from him as much as possible. He could not see me like this.

All pathetic and weak.

My tears were threatening to fall uncontrollably, making me more desperate to run away as I tried harder to make him release me.

"Can you _please_ let me go?" It sounded like I was begging and in an instant, his grip softened around my wrists but he did not let go.

Maybe he just noticed my teary eyes because his face had a shocked expression when our eyes met. Finally, he released my hands but instead of running (as I originally planned), my feet were glued to the floor.

Ok, why was I not moving?

Timidly, he asked, "What happened?"

I hesitated to tell him what was wrong. I mean, what could he do? And besides, don't I currently hate this guy?

"None of your business," I spat out. At that moment, I slightly admired myself for still having the ability to be mean while my heart was slowly breaking into pieces with the thought of Touya not waking up.

But hey, what do you know? Li did not buy it at all.

"I think it's my business because my so-called fiancé was running down the corridor, crying," he used that cocky tone again, which made me angrier.

Instinctively, I tried to slap him but he caught my hand again. "I am _not_ your fiancé!" I shouted.

Many heads turned our direction and I could see that he regretted what he said previously.

"Look," finally, a serious tone coming from him. "I'm sorry, alright. I don't know how I'm going to repay you but please – I need your help. Besides, it's slightly your fault--"

"My fault?" I said, thinking that maybe he had lost his mind. "How is it my fault?"

"You weren't there!" he pointed out and I was not even done with my question yet. I opened my mouth to knock some sense into him but he did not let me. "You're my bodyguard. You shouldn't have let me walk around school alone. If you had been there, those girls would not have approached me!"

Immature reasoning! Despite everything that was going inside my head, I managed to let out a soft laugh.

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**4:04pm**

Argh, yet again, she was laughing and I don't know why! Maybe Kinomoto had mentioned to me once that his sister was insane. I must have not been listening to him because I can certainly confirm that she is!

So I was on my way to Kinomoto's room after the very slow ride to this place and then a certain auburn head girl caught my attention. She was obviously oblivious to her surroundings since she ignored me when she passed by me.

Acting on impulse and because I wanted to apologize to her quickly, I grabbed her hand but I didn't realize that she would mind as her hand came flying up in the air to slap me. I stopped her, though, since I never wanted to be slapped by her again. I wouldn't mind if she wasn't strong but she was.

I didn't really mean to imprison her hands. It was just that – I was admiring how her eyes could sparkle like that so beautifully then I became conscious of the fact that she had been crying!

I scratched my head in confusion as I watched her laugh. After a while, she was laughing-slash-sobbing and she was mumbling words I could not understand.

It was time to set my issues aside and deal with what was bothering her.

"Why are you crying?" I asked softly.

"Dad told me…" she said then sniffed. "The doctors said… They said that… Touya has only little chance of waking up. And Dad… Dad's thinking of letting him go."

My heart started beating faster than ever. Suddenly, my chest felt very heavy and if this was how I feel (and I'm merely the boss of Touya), just imagine what she was feeling!

"But he won't right?" I managed to say but she gave me a look that was saying otherwise.

"He's considering it," she replied angrily. "That's why Touya needs to wake up…" she trailed off.

After that, she fainted.

* * *

So I was quick enough to catch her before she hit the ground. Fortunately too, I was strong enough to carry her to the emergency room and get some help. 

They carried her inside a room to examine her and I was more anxious than ever.

First of all, about Kinomoto's condition. He should not die. Not like this. Second of all, Sakura – it must have been stressful for her today and I was 40 percent at fault. Third of all, the fake engagement I mentioned to Haiku. Lastly, Sakura's dad was approaching me right now.

He didn't say a word when he saw me. He didn't even glance at my direction. He went straight inside the room where they were keeping Sakura.

I had only seen Mr. Kinomoto a couple of times before and from the last time that I saw him (which was almost eight months ago), he sure does look a lot older now.

Maybe this was not the year for the Kinomoto family and I actually feel bad about all of this.

The 40 percent would be going up now to 45 percent because if I had not hired Kinomoto as my bodyguard, they would not be put in this kind of situation. They would just a normal family, unrelated and unconnected with the threat-prone Li family.

After a few minutes, Mr. Kinomoto went out of the room with the doctor. They talked for a while then the doctor left to go back to his office.

"Mr. Li," Mr. Kinomoto greeted, finally acknowledging my presence. He let out his hand and I shook it politely.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Kinomoto," I said. "I'm terribly sorry for everything that's happened –"

He waved his hand to dismiss everything that I was going to say next. "I'm assuming that Sakura told you about what we just talked about?"

I nodded. "Is she ok now, by the way?" I asked, concerned about her condition.

"Yes, she's fine," he replied tiredly. "She was just too tired."

"Mr. Kinomoto," I said. "Not to be rude or anything but… Sakura is really upset about what you plan to do with your son. Maybe it's going to be easier if you just wait a little longer for him to wake up."

He sighed and closed his eyes.

"Mr. Li," he said. "I should let you know that I'm not going to decide this for myself. Sakura is included in this and all of Touya's friends, including you. If everyone wants to wait, then I shall wait as well. You have to know too that the thing that I respect the most is my children's decisions."

I was actually moved by what he said. Sigh, what parents do for their children. I chose not to reply and he gave me a small smile after an awkward silence between us.

"I'm sure you want to see her," he said, still smiling. "Go ahead. I'll go to Touya's room."

With that, he left me and I went inside Sakura's room.

The room was dimly lit, suiting her sleeping form. She looked very peaceful and I did not dare to disturb her. I could not help walking closer to her and sitting by the side of her bed.

I was pretty disappointed seeing her with closed eyes because I really wanted to take a look at those amazing eyes once again.

I smirked. Who could have thought that this same girl on this bed have managed to slap the all-known Syaoran Li?

Sooner or later, this girl would be the one who could bring me down.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View_

**August 8, 2006  
****7:17am**

I woke up in the hospital room last night around 11 in the evening. I found my Dad sleeping on the couch in my room so I stood up to wake him up.

Strangely, we managed to have a decent conversation. He did not make me change my decision about letting Touya go. And soon enough, he agreed to wait a little longer for my brother.

He would come around.

He always does.

I sat on the floor and leaned against the wall across the lockers. My friends were peculiarly not here yet in school and I had not seen any sign of Li.

Dad mentioned to me how he helped me out when I fainted. Right now, I was not feeling any need to say thank you to him because it was slightly his fault why it happened.

That guy was getting on my nerves!

Just before I could diss him inside my head more, Tomoyo was running towards me. Why was she running? What was so urgent early in the morning?

I did not bother to stand up as she settled down beside me. I waited for her to catch her breath and then immediately hugged her when she was not panting anymore.

"I missed you!" I told her and she smiled at me. "I did not see you _at all_ yesterday! And lots of things happened yesterday!"

She arched one eyebrow at me and I returned the same look to her. "You should have called me!" Tomoyo pointed out.

"I would have if I wasn't in the hospital all night," I revealed.

She frowned at this. "I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "Are you ok now?"

"Yes," I assured her. "I was just a little tired yesterday."

"Yes, yesterday seems to be such an important day," she trailed off. I waited for her to continue. "And to think, I got the news from a very unusual source!" Crap, I know where this was going. Before I could counteract what she was going to say…

"You're _effin_' engaged to Li Syaoran!" she screamed.

I covered my face in shame as people started to huddle around us, asking questions and all that. I groaned and looked at Tomoyo for help but she had no intentions of getting rid of these people.

"Yes, people," she was saying. "Li Syaoran is engaged to my best friend so back off, you hear?"

The people then started to file away from us and I looked incredibly impressed at my best friend on how she did that.

Before she could boast herself, though, we became aware why the people dispersed.

Li Syaoran just entered the lockers hallway and he was now being… attacked by giddy high school girls.

I stood up and waited a few more minutes before getting him out of the crowd.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 5:  
**_Sakura displays how bad of a bodyguard she was.  
_…  
_Touya wakes up.

* * *

_ **  
Author's Notes:**

Hehe, I'm evil. Sorry for updating so late and sorry if this chapter was sort of disappointing. I did have a hard time writing this. If you want to see my first draft of this chapter, tell me in your review so I can email it to you. And well, just PM me to let me know what you think about it. I'm telling you – it's really different than this one. So maybe if I can get feedbacks from two or three people, I would really be grateful for it. Don't forget, you can make sugggestions for this chapter's title!

And from now on, I will reply to all my reviewers (those who are not anonymous, of course)! I'm sorry if I haven't done that in the past but let me assure you that every review that you give me is very much appreciated and noted.

Don't forget to send me a review! Thanks!

**End of Chapter 4**

xxx **DEVILZ CHIK**


	5. Last Hour

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**I know that I promised to PM everyone who reviewed my last chapter and I did reply to the first batch of reviewers but then, I got lazy afterwards. Just please know that I really appreciate each and every review that you give and don't take it the wrong way if you don't hear back from me. 

By the way, I can't believe that no one had noticed a little give-away that I put in the last chapter that is very important in the plot. Oh well, maybe I was too discreet about it. Sneaky me. Moving along –

Happy holidays, guys!

Here's Chapter 5.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Last Hour

* * *

**_Syaoran's Point of View_

**August 8, 2006  
****7:30am**

She waited. She waited _intentionally_ before pulling me out of the crowd. Could you believe it? My supposedly bodyguard tolerated the high school girls attacking me.

No, she did not push them away. No, she did not even approach me quickly. And yes, the bell was the one that _actually_ saved my butt from all this harassment.

The final bell, signaling the start of classes, echoed throughout the hallway. The girls around me were slowly walking away and were quite feeling disappointed that they had to leave.

In the midst of their walking away, Sakura managed to reach me. She grabbed my hand and as soon as the contact was made, the girls were back and were whispering things around us.

"_So it _is_ true! They _are_ together!"_

"_I cannot believe that Sakura will actually date someone like him!"_

"_Now that explains why she dumped all the guys who asked her out!"_

"_They're _really_ engaged!"_

"_They crushed Haiku's heart!"_

"_I guess we now have a new couple."_

I personally did not know how they could come up with those conclusions from Sakura's actions. I mean, what could possibly be wrong if a girl touches a guy's hand? What was the big deal about it?

They got us cornered in the middle of the circle and started bombarding us with silly questions.

"_Where did you guys meet?"_

"_How long have you been together?"_

"_Sakura, why did you keep it a secret?"_

From the chaos going on, finally, we made eye contact. Silently, I asked her, "What do we do now?"

"Not really sure," she whispered back and continued to smile weakly to the others.

As if the questions were not enough, all of a sudden, some girls were practically shoving papers into my free hand. I assumed they were their numbers but how thick could they get? Some even crossed the line and were putting the little papers inside the front pocket of my polo.

Sakura saw this and growled. "That is _way _out of line," she stated angrily, glaring at the last girl who put a paper inside my pocket.

"What is this all about?" a voice was then heard from outside the circle. Everyone became quiet and turned to the owner of the voice.

Holy crap, it was the principal, standing tall and scary.

No one dared to reply except for a very giddy girl who was near the two of us. "Sir, these two are engaged!" she announced but it did not earn a surprised look from the principal. "Can you believe it? The saint Kinomoto is engaged!"

Sakura's hold on my hand tightened as she heard this and I figured out that that was the girl that she growled at not so long ago.

"I know about their engagement," the principal said dryly. "I guess now, all of you are aware of it. I hope you're satisfied so go to your classes now or it's going to be a week of detention."

After hearing the word 'detention', all of them hurriedly ran out of the lockers hallway and went to their respective classes.

Meanwhile, Sakura and I were rooted to the spot in front of the principal.

We were both scared to move and were both confused as to why he would know about an engagement that does not really exist.

"Your engagement now solves the mystery as to why your mother had insisted to give you the same schedule as Sakura's," the principal explained, smiling. "Run along now, you're already late for your first class."

The principal walked away, leaving the two of us dumbfounded by his reaction.

Sakura was still clutching my hand and seemed surprise at the fact that we were alone in the lockers hallway right at this moment.

"Can you believe that?" she asked me, obviously wigged out from the incident.

I gave her a shrug which did not satisfy her.

She let go of my hand, frustrated. "Well, I certainly do not believe it!" she exclaimed; her voice slightly echoing throughout the hallway. "Now the whole school _really_ thinks that we're engaged! And, my all-time best friend ditched me."

I remained silent as she continued to ramble on about… I don't really know. I wasn't really paying attention. She started pacing and I just got tired watching her walk back and forth angrily.

Remembering that she fainted out of fatigue yesterday, I blurted out suddenly, "are you feeling alright now, by the way?"

That caught her by surprise and she immediately stopped to turn and look at me. Her stern look softened and she replied, "Yes, I'm ok now."

"Good," I paused. "Good."

Awkward silence.

"Thanks for asking," she said as an attempt to lessen the awkwardness.

"So you're agreeing to this engagement thing?" I asked hesitatingly, honestly afraid of her response.

She shrugged, "I don't really have a choice now, do I?" she arched one eyebrow at my direction which I smiled at. "I hope this arrangement will help my job easier. I guess I only need to protect you from girls."

"Well, they're not exactly harmless," I pointed out.

She smiled humorously with a hint of mockery. "Li Syaoran – scared of high school girls," she teased and started to walk towards the door of the hallway.

I glared at her but decided to say nothing.

She could tease all she wants but nothing would change the fact that we are unofficially engaged.

In front of the whole school. All I hope was that it wouldn't reach my mother. Or anyone else.

* * *

**9:38am  
**_Sakura's Point of View_

It was true. I did agree to pretend to be Li's fiancé in school. I seriously did not know what I was putting myself into. I just tangled myself with the web of Li Syaoran.

He was also telling the truth about the girls not exactly being harmless. When we were walking to our first class a while ago, I noticed a scratch on his right arm. I personally thought that it was quite dumb of him to not even feel it.

It was not a big scratch but it was still a scratch and there was a little blood concerning it. He insisted on not worrying about it and had just washed it clean in the bathroom.

But unlike him, I could never dismiss the issue easily. He was wounded under my watch. How irresponsible could I be?

It was currently our break time and I swore to myself to keep a very close eye on Li from now on.

I admit that I did punish him slightly when I waited a few more minutes before approaching him in the crowd. That was just getting even from starting the whole matter about this so-called engagement of ours.

All heads turned to me while I walked beside Li to the canteen to meet up with my friends. When we reached the canteen, I was happy to see that all my friends were there including Tomoyo, who needed some reminding that friends don't usually leave another friend behind.

I sat beside Tomoyo, ignoring all the teasing by Yamazaki and Chiharu about me and Li. Li sat quietly and I could feel his uneasiness as he settled on a chair beside me.

"Where were you?" I demanded from Tomoyo. "You just left!"

"I went to class," Tomoyo stated simply, as if it was the obvious thing in the world and I was so stupid to not know about it. "A good student like me should never be late."

"Stop it, Tomoyo!" I said, aware that she was only teasing me.

"You managed to handle it, I presume?" she asked. "Both of you _are_ in one piece after all."

Where was all her coldness coming from?

"Tomoyo just wants to know how you can keep an important part of your life hidden from all of us," Naoko inquired.

"You know that you can trust us with anything," Rika joined in. "We did keep your summer job a secret."

I looked helplessly at Li, wordlessly asking him if I could tell them the truth. He shrugged in response and continued to bite on his sandwich. He was letting me decide by myself?

I was having a hunch that he would blame me if anything bad happens afterwards. Whatever, I could trust my friends. They would never tell anyone.

I took a long breath. "The truth is…" I paused to look at each of their eager faces. "We're not really engaged," I said the statement oh-so-softly and looked around immediately making sure that no one else had heard.

Everyone looked like they believed me (most of all, Yamazaki who was nodding his head in understanding) except for Naoko who snorted.

"I don't buy it," she said. I kept my serious face. She looked around the table and their looks convinced her seconds later. "No, but that would be such a great story for the paper!" she whined and we all smiled at her.

"You can still write the article," Tomoyo told her, smirking. "Everyone thinks they're engaged so everyone will believe you."

I groaned. Are these really my friends? I was beginning to doubt them.

"Is that really necessary?" Li asked. I turned to him, mad at the fact that he had not joined the previous conversation.

"Of course!" Tomoyo exclaimed; her excitement clearly showing on her face.

"So… when will the interview be?" Naoko asked us.

I looked at Li and he did not seem to care at all. He had a cool and laidback expression as if he was already contented that he would not be swarmed with girls any time soon again.

Since he was not technically objecting, I sighed, "I have cheerleading try-outs today," I replied. "Maybe tomorrow?"

Naoko clapped in glee.

"But Li's going with me for soccer try-outs," Yamazaki interrupted. "It's going to last until Friday."

"Then I'll just do the interview during lunch times!" Naoko decided happily. "You won't be disappointed, Sakura. I will write the article myself and everyone will be convinced that you're together. No one will dare to steal your Li and no one will _dare _to steal your Sakura."

At that time, she didn't know that that was an understatement.

* * *

**11:35am**

All day, everyone was bugging me to tell them my love story but I could not tell them anything because I had none.

Lunchtime came and Naoko immediately started her interview. She asked the same questions as people were asking me and surprisingly enough, I could not give her an answer.

"Let's just make something up," Li said.

"It better be creative," I said clearly.

We both paused to think of a story and he came up with one.

"What about…" he started. "Ever since your brother had worked for me, you've always wanted to meet me and when you finally did, you just can't stop thinking about me. Soon enough, you told me that you like me and I started liking you too and then I proposed. Or maybe, _you_ proposed since you like me very, very much."

I huffed at his story as my friends giggled.

"Why do I have to like _you_ first?" I questioned him and he only smirked in response. "I don't like that story! It should be _you _who likes _me_ first because that's just the way it is and then _you_ proposed!"

Naoko was becoming less happy as we could not settle on a story.

"I'll just say that you guys eventually fell in love after a love-hate relationship that was going on for a long time," she said dismissively. "Let's stick with the cliché, people won't question it. Now, what about the story on how Li proposed?"

Yes! Naoko, taking my side. I stuck my tongue out at Li, rubbing it in his face that I won this round. "See! I told you, _you_ proposed!"

"Fine, I did but you _forced_ me to!" Li exclaimed, his voice being drowned by the noise in the canteen.

"But that would give an impression that you guys are not happy with your engagement," Tomoyo said matter-of-factly.

We all paused to think of the most romantic way for a proposal. Yamazaki, though, instead of helping us think, began telling a story about engagement rings that we really did not listen to.

None of us was happy with the stories though. Naoko suggested a very mushy out-of-the-blue proposal (that Li could not just live without me). Rika described a stereotypical romantic dinner, Li on his knees. Chiharu elaborated Rika's story. Yamazaki narrated a very long story but we all assumed (as he sounded serious and not lying at all) that it was how he's planning to propose to Chiharu someday. Tomoyo, on the other hand, shared nothing about a story of how "Li proposed" but instead, she was talking about our future wedding (that would never happen).

Li and I didn't come up with any. For me, I never really had fantasies about how I would get engaged someday and this might have been the first time that I even thought about it.

* * *

**2:32pm**

Until now, I was still pondering about a story on how Li would have proposed to me. I was distracted and occupied all day and everyone noticed it. They did not point it out though as they assumed that I was just feeling uneasy about the whole school finding about my engagement.

Also, I was about to break the secret promise I made a little while ago. I was about to have Li away from my eyesight for two hours.

Who knows what could happen?

"Are you sure you want to try out for soccer?" I asked Li again.

I was the head cheerleader this year, meaning I was appointed to choose two cheerleaders to join the squad. It was a responsibility I could not ignore but Li was my responsibility, too.

"Yes," he replied impatiently. We were outside the gym where the tryouts for cheerleaders were. All the hopefuls were already inside (even Coach was inside) and they were all waiting for me.

"But I won't be there in the field," I insisted, trying to make him see my point.

"And I will only be with soccer guys," he said unequivocally. "Besides, I can handle myself."

I snorted at his statement and he just rolled his eyes in response. "Fine, whatever," I said dismissively. "I don't really care as long as you don't get kidnapped. I'll keep my phone on – call me if anything happens. Wait for me there. I'll try to get there as soon as I'm done here. Stay with Yamazaki and good luck."

He once again rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother," he muttered and all of a sudden, we heard the people from the gym cheered.

They had been watching all along!

Li started to walk away when someone yelled, "you forgot something!"

Li turned around and looked at me curiously but I had a clueless expression, telling him that I don't think he forgot something.

"So you're not going to give her a goodbye kiss?" the same voice said. When I turned to the owner of the voice, I glared at her, recognizing Haiku's ultimate best friend.

Li and I looked at each other hesitantly. _Just get it over with quickly_. With one swift step, he was in front of me but instead of giving me a kiss he lightly hugged me and walked away.

Everyone seemed to be satisfied with that gesture and on I went to cheerleading tryouts.

* * *

**3:15pm  
**_Normal Point of View_

The last thing he remembered was fighting with many guys all dressed in black. He was outnumbered and he totally ruled the fight as unfair. He was too preoccupied, thinking again and again that he had no time for a thing like this since he was late for his sister's party already.

And now, as he opened his eyes, he seemed to realize all of a sudden that he possessed vital information about two certain people. It was the reason why he was attacked in the first place. He needed to be silenced.

It was ironic, though. Because if he hadn't had a concussion from the attack, he wouldn't have remembered. He would have kept the information repressed at the back of his mind.

Right now, all he needed to do was to wait for someone to find him there, finally awake.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 6:**

_Syaoran talks to Touya.  
_…  
_First issue of the school newspaper comes out with Sakura and Syaoran's story as the main article.  
_…  
"_Why are those guys still planning to ask Sakura out?" I asked Yamazaki. _

"_Because no one actually completely believes that she's engaged to you," Yamazaki replied.

* * *

_

**Author's Notes:  
**I hope you liked that. Sorry for the delay. I admit that I've been distracted and I had writer's block (and that's mainly the reason why there's no story yet on how Li proposed). Do me a favor now and please review! That will be the best gift ever.

Lastly, thanks for the people who requested to see the draft of Chapter 4. It was wholly appreciated.

Happy holidays!

**PS: **Responses on the first batch of reviews on my bio page. Check it out!

**End of Chapter 5**

xxx DEVILZ CHIK


	6. Last Kisser

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**I loved all of your reviews. I'm happy that I'm getting more than 20 reviews per chapter. I know it's not too many but hey, I get happy quite easily. Now cheer me up more and review after reading this chapter. I'm sorry for the delay as well. 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 6: Last Kisser

* * *

**_Sakura's Point of View_  
**August 8, 2006  
****4:28pm**

There were three exceptional students out of the many who came for tryouts and our Coach was glad with it. We might even get the three of those who stand out, ignoring the fact that we only need two this year.

"Good job today," Coach was saying. "We'll meet again tomorrow. We're going to observe how you deal in groups. Have a nice rest tonight, that's all. You may go."

The students slowly stood up from the floor and with poise, went to the changing rooms. They were still trying to impress me and Coach, alright. Watching them made me remember how nervous I was when I went to cheerleading tryouts four years ago. And now, look at me, head cheerleader.

"Sakura," Coach turned to me. "I would like you to come again tomorrow then on Thursday then we can post up the results on Friday. Is that ok?"

I nodded. "Sure, Coach," I replied politely.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then," she said.

I picked up my bag quickly and rushed outside to the field to see how Li was doing.

I swear I could hurt myself if something happened to him. My modesty had stopped me from telling him that almost all the soccer players had asked me out once or twice previously.

Hopefully, there had been no damage done to Li by those jocks.

And indeed, there wasn't, from the looks of it. As soon as I reached the soccer field, I settled on the lower part of the bleachers to watch the soccer coach give the players his last remarks. Li caught my eye and nodded to acknowledge my presence there.

Yamazaki was standing not so far away from him and he, as usual, looked absentminded but looked as if he was taking in every word that the coach was telling them. The other guys noticed me as well and were practically staring at me, completely shutting out the wise words of their coach.

"See you all tomorrow, then," the Coach said finally.

The players picked up their bags from the benches and went to the changing rooms. Some intentionally passed by where I was sitting (the changing rooms were on the other side) just to say a quick hello.

When I saw Li approaching, I could not help but notice the big smirk on his face and wonder what it was all about.

"Stop looking at me like that," I snapped.

"I didn't know you were so popular with those guys," he teased. "I was practically being thrashed around the soccer field a while ago."

I frowned at his declaration and avoided his eyes. "I hope they didn't give you such a hard time," I told him sincerely.

"Naaah, I can deal with those guys in my sleep," he boasted and I just rolled my eyes in response.

"I guess I have nothing to worry about then," I said, exhaling a long breath.

"You should stop underestimating me, you know," he said with a smirk.

That smirk of his was making me feel very uncomfortable.

"Well, if you're okay, then I guess I'm going now," I told him, standing up.

"No, wait," he called back. I looked down at him. "I'll give you a ride home. Wait for me, ok? I'll just take a quick shower."

I opened my mouth to protest but – "C'mon, _girlfriend_, you should wait for me." He winked at me before heading off to the changing rooms.

The nerve of him! Some guys were still resting on the benches, looking as if they had been watching. Li probably saw them so I guess I had to carry along with his act.

So there I was, alone on the bleachers with my bag, watching two hardcore soccer jocks who were mindlessly dribbling balls around the field.

After twenty minutes or so, Yamazaki came out of the changing rooms and waved at my direction. I waved back at him and sighed inwardly because at last, I would not be so bored.

"You waiting for Li?" he asked, staying right at the spot where Li had been standing before.

I nodded. "He's going to bring me home."

"Aaaww, isn't that sweet?" Yamazaki teased and I simply rolled my eyes. "Well, I have to get going now. Sorry I can't stay longer," he said when I had a disappointed look on my face when he said he was leaving already (we had been talking for less than two minutes – I don't want to be alone again). "I think Li's almost done anyway."

"Alright, see you tomorrow," I said.

He waved goodbye once again but he stopped from walking all of a sudden and went back in front of me. "By the way, Li had a tough time a while ago with your suitors," he told me then walked away again.

I was going to say something but found out that… what could I say? As seconds go by, I was starting to feel guiltier than ever.

If Li would not make it to the team, it would be my fault because those stupid guys whom I rejected years before kept grudges and were taking out all their frustrations to Li, instead of me. They were probably hindering Li to perform at his best.

I groaned loudly as I mentally kicked myself for thinking that way. I don't even know if Li was really any good in soccer. He was home schooled all his life, what could he possibly know about the sport? Who could he have been playing with? Has he even played before or merely enjoyed watching it on TV?

I was distracted with my phone ringing and I quickly opened it to check who it was. My first guess was that it was Li, calling for help from the changing rooms (what if he was ambushed there?). But the caller was not him. It was Yukito.

"Hello?" I answered.

Yukito's joyful voice could be heard on the other line and by what he was saying I could not help myself from beaming. I listened to what he had to say and as I glanced to the changing rooms, I could see Li walking towards me.

He seemed alright which made me feel relieved. "Are you sure, Yukito?" I asked eagerly. The answer was a yes and I knew Yukito as a very serious person who could not crack up a joke about a serious matter like this.

"I'll be there soon!" I almost shouted excitedly. I closed my phone, picked up my bag and practically jumped over the railing that was separating the bleachers from the field itself.

And then, I ran towards Li happily.

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**5:05pm**

It looked romantic in a way as I caught Sakura in my arms as she deliberately threw her arms around my neck. It made me think that maybe she was ready to full out participate on the act.

All of a sudden, a click was heard. We turned where the sound came from and Sakura pushed me away from her. I almost felt disappointed with the loss of contact.

"Naoko!" Sakura whined at Naoko, holding a camera.

"That was a nice shot, Sakura," Naoko said, but without looking at Sakura. She was intently looking at the picture she just took in her digital camera. "Ok, thanks, bye!" Then, Naoko ran off.

"She could have just asked," I heard Sakura mutter.

I laughed softly as she pouted while staring at the direction where Naoko had ran off to.

"Whatcha laughing at?" she demanded.

Talk about mood swings. She was the one so happy a while ago! _And_ she threw herself at me. "Nothing," I replied. "Why are you so happy? And what did I do to deserve an embrace?"

She huffed at my last comment but smiled nonetheless. "Touya's awake!" she exclaimed.

As for me, I could not stop smiling myself.

Everything happened quickly after that. I remember her grabbing my hand and basically dragging me to the gates of the school where Yuri and Ken were waiting for us with the car. She impatiently told Ken, who was driving, to speed up and even said, "don't mind the speed limit! We _are_ cool agents after all!"

"Haiyaku!"

"_Haiyaku_!"

"**_Haiyaku_**!"

We arrived at the hospital twelve minutes later after ignoring three consecutive red lights. Sakura grabbed my hand again and we ran together to Kinomoto's room.

Sakura stopped when we reached the hallway where his room was located.

A man with… what's that color? Silver? Gray? Well, that guy was sitting on the bench outside Kinomoto's room and he stood up when he saw us approaching.

"Yukito!" Sakura ran towards him and hugged the man tightly. Suddenly, I no longer felt special seeing as Sakura had displayed the same affection to another man.

"Hey, Sakura," the man said with a smile. He patted Sakura's head softly and his gaze fell on me. "Who are you with huh?"

Sakura hesitated but introduced us anyway. "Yukito, this is Li Syaoran," she said. "Li, this is Tsukishiro Yukito, he's my brother's best friend."

We shook hands politely and somehow, I could not shake up my annoyance towards this guy. He was being so close to Sakura.

"Is he still awake?" Sakura asked. Tsukishiro nodded and beckoned both of us to enter the room.

Kinomoto was sitting up on his bed and was not pale like he used to. Sakura hugged him and stayed in her brother's arms in what seemed like forever to me.

"I'm so glad you're_ finally _awake!" Sakura was almost in tears. "Has Dad seen you yet?"

"No, but he's on his way," Kinomoto replied. "What is gaki doing here?" he said as if he had just noticed me there in the room.

"It's good to have you back, Kinomoto," I announced sincerely and he just grunted in response.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Kinomoto asked, his eyes observing the uniform I was wearing. "It's the uniform where Sakura goes," Sakura then started laughing nervously. "Care to tell me what's going on? How come you're going to school? How can they allow this after what happened to me? Who's guarding you now, eh? Did someone finally buy your 'I can handle myself' speech?"

Kinomoto went on and on. Asking about this and that. Sakura kept sending me uncertain glances. Tsukishiro was the one who made Kinomoto shut up and finally calm down.

Sakura started explaining that my mom had allowed me to go to school and that she was my bodyguard for the meantime. From my observations, Sakura was pretty good in explaining herself to Kinomoto. When Kinomoto was about to say something about what she said, she would immediately stop him from talking by raising her voice and going on.

Good thing was she was smart enough to exclude the fact that 'we were engaged'.

The room tensed up a bit when she was done explaining because Kinomoto remained silent and his gaze was fixed on me. Sakura also remained quiet and even though I was used to Kinomoto's glaring at me, I was never used to the feeling it gave me.

It had always made me feel uneasy and nervous - as if he could see right through me _and_ as if he knew about a certain idea of mine that concerns his sister.

"Hey, who's hungry?" Tsukishiro spoke up, in an attempt to distract Kinomoto but his effort failed as Kinomoto was still looking at me intently.

"Well, I am hungry so I'll just go… and get something to eat," Tsukishiro exited the room and he gave me an impression that he was really hungry rather than he just wanted to get out of the current situation.

"Onii-chan," Sakura said. "Stop looking at him like that. He hasn't done anything wrong. He's not getting me in trouble–"

Kinomoto cut her off without breaking his gaze. I was still avoiding his eyes. "He will soon," he declared.

Sakura laughed. "And this is coming from a guy who has been asleep for five months?"

Finally, Kinomoto stopped staring and turned to his sister. "That's not fair," he pointed out, frowning. "Sakura, you know I just want the best for you and being around this guy is not really a very smart choice."

I looked at him unbelievably. He was talking as if I wasn't there in the room.

"But you've been his bodyguard!" Sakura protested.

"And look what happened to me!" Sakura turned to look at me to see maybe if I was offended but I accepted Kinomoto's words. It was really my fault that he was in comatose for five months.

Kinomoto noticed Sakura's concern and looked at me too. "Don't take it the wrong way, Li," he told me. "I just don't want the same thing happen to my sister. I just won't let it happen."

"Onii-chan--," Sakura was interrupted as her phone rang. She took out her phone from her pocket and answered it. "Hello?" she greeted. She listened to whoever it was on the other line and afterwards, she excused herself. "Sorry, I need to take this. Be right back." With that, she exited the room, leaving me alone with Kinomoto.

And I think I saw her grinning when she was on her way out of the room, as if silently grateful of the phone call because she could escape the overwhelming protectiveness of her brother.

"So, gaki, let's just make this clear," Kinomoto said sternly. "You are to watch over my sister. You are not to let any harm come to her. If ever she will get hurt, you'll face me and I swear to you, it will not be good."

I was a bit taken aback. "Sakura's _my_ bodyguard," I emphasized to him because maybe he had forgotten.

"Yeah I know," he replied coolly. "I also know that sooner or later, you'll end up being her 'bodyguard'."

"What are you talking about?"

I was confused to the point that I came to the conclusion that maybe another soul had taken possession of Kinomoto's body. He was not making sense at all. What was he babbling about me protecting Sakura _sooner _or _later_?

"I know that you don't want Sakura to be hurt," Kinomoto said.

"Well, of course I don't. She's my friend."

Kinomoto groaned in frustration. "I give up. You're so dumb. Go away. I don't want to talk to you anymore," he said. The statement was childish but when Kinomoto Touya said it, it didn't sound childish at all. How does he do that?

I still had a puzzled expression as I walked out of his room slowly, expecting him to elaborate on what he was saying a while ago. Did he become a fortune teller in the course of five months that he was sleeping?

The idea was hilarious as an image of Touya with a crystal ball appeared in my mind. I laughed softly before exiting the room and before I fully went out, Kinomoto exclaimed, "Shut up!"

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**August 14, 2006  
****11:25am**

It had been six days since Touya had woken up. He was finally allowed to go home on Saturday and he was quite pleased when he found his room to have not changed at all. In fact, it was cleaner than before and I took the credit.

I was bored on Friday night that I decided to clean up his room because I knew that it would mean a lot to him. I didn't do much – I just organized his CDs and books. He was almost never home before the accident so there wasn't much to fix actually.

Nevertheless, I was the best sister all weekend.

Unusually, he never bothered me anymore about Li. And as much as I would like to know what they had talked about when went out of the room last Tuesday, none of them would tell me so I decided to drop it.

The bell, signaling the start of lunch time echoed throughout the room. Everyone in the room quickly packed their things in their bags. The teacher was saying something about tomorrow's activity but I couldn't care less. Nothing in Math would be fun, anyway.

I walked out of the room and saw Li waiting by the door. During the course of one week, we had grown accustomed of waiting each other after classes (it clearly wasn't a big deal since we had the same schedule). No one bothered us again about our 'relationship'. Haiku also was said to have drop out of the school.

"Do you need to go to your locker?" I asked – the question was becoming a routine every after class.

He shook his head. "Actually, I'm meeting Yamazaki to check out the soccer results," he said. "And if I made it to the team, there's going to be a quick meeting. I'll just meet you in the canteen."

"Alright," I said.

There was an awkward pause between as we stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. Both of us looked around and were aware of people watching. Sighing at the same time, we quickly hugged each other then he walked away, leaving me to stride by myself to the canteen with the students hushing words to each other about our lack of public display of affection.

Seriously, if they knew the truth, they could not blame us for it. I still felt uncomfortable doing it and I don't think I would ever get used hugging a guy I just met.

Yesterday at the soccer field was impulsive. I was just too happy about the news of Touya.

When I entered the canteen, almost everyone at every table was reading the first edition of the school's newspaper. My eyes landed on our usual table.

All my friends' lunches were abandoned and they were all concentrating in reading the paper. Naoko was eagerly waiting for them to finish reading – too excited that her sandwich was in midair.

They did not even notice me sitting down on the table. A newspaper was on the table, (purposely reserved for me, I'm guessing).

My face became red as my eyes landed on the front page picture and the headline.

"_YES" WAS THE BEST WORD FOR LI THAT DAY.

* * *

__Syaoran's Point of View  
_**11:30am**

So as much as I wanted to decipher what Kinomoto was talking about last week, I never really had the chance to talk to him again. Mother told me that Kinomoto would be off-duty for a while so that meant he wouldn't be my bodyguard from now on basically.

She was still in favor of Sakura being my bodyguard in school and I didn't question her decision.

Our occasional hugs just to please the "public" (the students in school) were still uncomfortable to me but hey, who cares? As long as no one was bothering me anymore.

I was walking beside Yamazaki to the gym where the Coach said the results will be posted. Many guys were in front of the board and we decided to wait until they dispersed before we check out the list ourselves.

Some of Sakura's suitors were standing nearby – they probably made it because they seemed to be waiting for the "meeting" to start. Ha! My name was right after Yamazaki and we slapped each other's hands in rejoice.

"Nice job!" Yamazaki greeted.

"You too," I replied.

Well, I was kind of expecting him to make it anyway since he was in the team for four years now. There weren't many underclassmen and I was surprised myself that I got in, considering the fact that I only train for soccer but rarely had time to actually play games.

"You're probably going to be the new forward this year," Yamazaki was telling me as we took a seat inside the gym where everyone else in the team was waiting.

Perfect – my favorite position. While the Coach was telling us about the team this year, I could not help but notice the nasty looks some guys are sending my way.

When the Coach was done talking about the schedule of our practices and the national league, Yamazaki confirmed that I wasn't only imagining the glares from the other players.

"Why don't you all stay here and… bond for a while?" the Coach said dismissively. "Introduce yourselves to one another. Veterans of the team, make the new players feel welcomed then you can go off to lunch."

The Coach left the gym and some of the underclassmen started whispering to each other and were having happy conversations between themselves.

One guy stood up where the Coach was standing a little while earlier and started speaking, "I'm Hikashi Yuki. Four years in the team already and I welcome all new players. Why don't we do this introducing each other later in practice and head off for lunch because I sure am hungry, aren't you?"

The guys chorused a yes and everyone set off to the canteen. Yamazaki and I followed suit but we stopped when we heard Hikashi said loudly to his friends (as if he intentionally wanted us to hear what he had to say).

"I'm hungry and I have a girl to ask out," he declared loudly.

"Who?" asked of the guys.

"Kinomoto Sakura," he responded and that really made me stop dead in my tracks.

I turned around furiously but Yamazaki managed to drag me out of the gym before I could confront the guy.

"What's wrong with that guy?" I demanded to Yamazaki. He was also the same guy forcing me to throw off my soccer groove during tryouts last week!

"Well, he's liked Sakura for years now," Yamazaki stated. "Ever since junior high, actually."

"Doesn't he know that _I'm_ engaged to her?" I was sounding angrier as seconds pass by and I couldn't explain why. "That means no one can ask her out! So why is he still planning to ask her out?"

Yamazaki did not even pause to think. "Well, because no one's really buying that you two are together," he replied simply. "You can't exactly blame them for thinking so."

Yamazaki was right about the last part. We weren't really acting like a couple; hence no one was buying the act. But aren't the hugs enough? The walking to class (despite the fact that we had the same classes)?

I suddenly remembered that the first edition of the school newspaper would be out today. Maybe if Hikashi would read Naoko's article, he would learn to stay away from Sakura. Last Saturday, I got hold of Naoko as I thought about the perfect story of how I proposed to Sakura.

I forgot to mention it to Sakura and I rather not think about what her expression would be once she read it.

Hikashi's gang was just behind us and we were all on the same way to the canteen. Yamazaki was oblivious to my frustration towards the guy.

We entered the canteen and the sight in front of me was unbelievable. Everyone was reading the newspaper and when they saw me enter, they put it down slowly and were following my every move.

Yamazaki certainly did not like the looks being sent our way so he hurriedly went to the table to join the others.

Sakura was reading the article and did not even put her head up to see me approaching.

"There she is," Hikashi muttered to his friends but I heard it anyway. "Watch and learn as I sweep her off her feet."

Too cocky.

He passed by me but I pulled his shirt backwards and, he let out an angry "Hey!" but I ignored it. Smirking at his direction, I said, "_You_ should watch and learn."

I paced towards Sakura, touched her shoulder to let her know I was there. She looked up at me and had a questioning look on her face.

As soon as I saw her eyes locked into mine, I was drawn to its beauty. I leaned in, further closing the gap between us.

"Is there something wrong?" she whispered, but did not pull away.

I traced her left cheek with the tip of my finger and brought her face closer to mine. "Nothing at all," I replied, smirking and crashed my lips into hers.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 7:**

_Sakura and Syaoran spend a little time together._

_And the story on how Syaoran proposed.

* * *

_

**Author's Notes:  
**I hope you liked that. I'm trying my best to be descriptive enough but I also do not want my chapters to be super long. And I know that I promised aspects of this chapter from the previous chapter so I tried my best to put everything here. I personally think that this chapter is really long – longer than any of the other chapter so please review and make me happy.

I'm really glad that I'm getting positive reviews mostly because I don't really know how to react when I get a flame. Hopefully, there won't be any. I apologize for the grammatical mistakes.

And oh, I hope you like my chapter title.

Please review! Happy 2007!

**End of Chapter 6.**

xxx DEVILZ CHIK


	7. First Questions

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Chapter 7: First Questions**

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**August 15, 2006  
11:51am**

I only meant to give her a peck on the lips but after pulling away, staring at those pink lips of hers, I wanted so much more. My hand was still on her left cheek and I had not pulled myself away from her completely. Our faces were still inches apart.

She had a blank expression on her face.

Everyone who saw gasped. The group behind us (Hikashi's gang) was growling and stomped away. Then… there was a squeal from one of the people around our table.

Daidouji's.

"I can't believe I didn't get that on tape!" she hissed and frowned.

On the other hand, Sakura was still staring into space. I tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "Sakura?"

She didn't reply but pulled my arm roughly downwards, causing me to sit down on the chair beside her.

So this was how it was going to be? Silent treatment?

Ok, that's cool for me. I very much prefer it than being dead.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**11:53am**

So what do you do when you get your first kiss?

You don't know?

They should teach these things in school, instead of stupid calculus or history!

Why was I asking? Because I just got mine. I could never boast around my innocent lips again. They were touched by Li's stupid lips.

Stupid guy.

Instinctively, I would have slapped him. That was the plan originally when he was leaning so closely and was totally out of bounds of my comfort zone.

But no, what did I do? I let the less-than-five-second kiss happen!

I could have moved away, but no… The stupid guy lured me to stare at those amazing eyes of his.

And what was that story of about how he proposed? How can a guy like him come up with that story? I doubt he made it up on his own. A guy like him could never even think about that kind of story. It was just not possible.

The story went like this…

_Recall our out-of-town junior trip last year. The trip had been fun indeed—the three weeks had been productive and it most certainly pleased the teachers who accompanied us. We should remember the leadership skills that Sakura had demonstrated during our stay there. But who would have thought that someone was terribly missing our great leader back here in Tomoeda? _

_We can all question her later as to why she had kept her relationship with the famous Li Syaoran. For the meantime, I shall share with all of you how the new student in the Senior Class proposed to the loved-by-all Sakura Kinomoto. _

_Yes, it is very unusual for high school students to be engaged because there are great responsibilities that come with it that we might not be ready for. But does this fact stopped Li? Of course not. _

_Li had been feeling neglected by Sakura because of her demanding school work and the said trip did not help his condition at all. When Sakura broke it out to Li about the trip, it devastated him. He feared that they might fall apart and the distance between them would increase. _

_The bad reception on the island where we went to prevented Li from contacting Sakura and vice versa. (Who noticed Sakura sneaking to make phone calls?) After one week that she had been gone, Li could not bear her absence any longer. _

_He became moody, restless and more stubborn than usual. He ditched his sessions with his teacher and stayed in his room. All he could think about was Sakura. "I just want to be with her all the time, you know," Li had stated. "I can't imagine myself without her."_

_The horrible three weeks apart were finally over. Sakura excitedly went to Li's house first before her own but was disappointed when he wasn't there. He knew the time of her arrival, making her confused as to where he could be. _

_She sadly made her way to her house and on the way, she kept calling her boyfriend but he wouldn't answer. Evening came and no word from him. _

_On the next day, still sad about yesterday's outcome, she slowly made her way to the door as she was woken up by a doorbell (her father left early for work). She opened the door and was greeted by a delivery man. _

_When the delivery man confirmed that she was Kinomoto Sakura, he whistled and signaled his co-workers to bring the roses inside. Sakura smiled at the bouquet of roses a man handed to her and smiled even more when she read the card. It was from Li. _

_But it wasn't just a bouquet of roses. The delivery guys kept coming inside her house with pots and bouquets of roses in different colors. Most were pink. All in all, there were one thousand roses. _

_The gesture aroused Sakura's suspicion that maybe Li did something wrong. "She always thinks I'm up to no good when I do nice things to her," Li said. _

_The suspicion ignited an argument between the two but two days later, they made up. Li then brought Sakura to the planetarium (exclusive for the Li family that day). They had a romantic date there, with candlelight and fancy food. _

_For Sakura, it was a normal date but Li had something else up his sleeve for that certain date. _

"_She was so dense," Li flatly said. "The 'question' was written up in the sky of the planetarium throughout our dinner and she never noticed it until I told her to look up because I have a question for her."_

So apparently, in the story, I looked up but saw my name instead of a question. Li was starting to get very impatient and turned my head the other way where the question was spelled out with the stars.

"_Cool! Look, my name's up there!" I pointed upwards. _

_Li growled lowly, stood up, touched my head and turned my head where the question was. "Will… you… marry… me?" I read slowly then paused. I turned to Li and frowned. "I think people are getting inside here and vandalizing the ceiling. You should improve security."_

_Li sweat-dropped and literally fell on his knees (accidentally). Did I say something wrong? I tried to help him up but he waved my hand away. He stayed kneeling like that in one knee and faced me sincerely. _

"_Sakura, don't you get it?" he asked me. I tilted my head on one side and silently asked him to go on. "I'm asking _you_ to marry _me. _Will you?"_

_I stared at him blankly, processing what he just said. I stayed silent for a while and he was patient enough to wait for my response. "Are you sure about this?" I asked him softly. He nodded determinedly. "I don't know what to say…"_

"_Just say yes, dammit."_

_I chuckled. "Yes, dammit."_

I was pretty frustrated when he portrayed me as such a stupid girl – oblivious and clueless about my surroundings.

_Li later told Sakura that in one of the cards from the roses that he gave her, there was an implication that he was about to ask her to marry her. But Sakura, knowing that they were all from the same guy decided to not read all the cards as she thought that they would be saying the same thing anyway. "I love you, Sakura, From Syaoran."_

_So that was their story. The couple has not set a wedding date yet. Just one thing's for sure: they are inseparable; most of all, now that they will be spending a lot of time in school together. The story on how he sought her out to be his girlfriend remains a mystery and the two of them refused to give out any details about it. _

_-- Naoko Yanagisawa, Editor_

The story was really good. Everyone was awed about how he proposed and laughed at my plain denseness. But the article was not the big juicy gossip for today – the juicy thing that everyone was talking about was the kiss.

The school had nothing against public display of affection so I did not really see the big deal – why was everyone so fussed up about it? The answer was way beyond me.

It _was_ just a chaste kiss but then as time went by, the talk was developing into a flat-out false rumor! Some people were talking about us _making out _in the middle of the canteen. Some were saying that we _French kissed_.

It was just a quick kiss!

Which I was thankful for because if it was more than that, I would have killed the guy right there and then. I preferred to not dwell on it much longer and to stop talking to Li for the meantime.

He seemed perfectly fine with the silent treatment.

Our last class for today was PE.

As usual, I walked with Li to the gym. We went to our separate ways to each of our changing rooms to change into our PE uniforms.

We still had not said a word to each other and personally, I would believe that he figured out that he got away real smoothly.

Warm-ups started – running, jogging, sprinting, crunches, pushups, etc. That was our school – fitness freaks. It probably lasted for twenty five minutes until we went on with drills and exercises for basketball.

I paired up with one of the cheerleaders in my class, leaving Li with some random guy. It was going pretty well, you know – the two of us on the other side of the gym and it went even better when we were separated into four teams and our teams weren't even going to play each other.

He was on the other court while I was minding my own business playing basketball and not thinking about what happened earlier.

In the middle of the game, we were asked to have a timeout.

"Ok, guys," Heikyo said, he was in the basketball team. "Obviously, we're going to beat them."

Everyone laughed at his cockiness and smiled in amusement. "Of course we are," a girl replied and everyone else agreed.

"Hey, Sakura," a girl beside me said. I was in the midst of drinking from my water bottle but I turned to her. "Say, where's your engagement ring?"

I almost spit out the water in my mouth but instead, I tried my best to swallow it and looked as calm as possible in front of everyone. I chuckled nervously.

"I don't wear it to school," I told them, seeing their eager faces.

"_Why not?"_

"_Is it too expensive?"_

"_You think someone's going to steal it from you?"_

"I just don't want to wear it," I said dismissively but I think they noticed the uncertainty in my voice.

Our PE teacher saved me from answering questions from my classmates and as soon as the class was over, I ran to the changing rooms, changed quickly and went out.

As soon as I got out of the changing rooms (and I was the first one to do so), I was never happier to see Li standing outside as well.

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**2:37pm**

The guys from my team a while ago ambushed me with questions about what ring I gave to Sakura. They totally caught _me_ off-guard but I refused to tell them anything. They probably see me as a very boastful person and they were still ht-headed at my secretiveness that I quickly changed and went out to wait for Sakura.

Unexpectedly, Sakura did not take so long to change back. She even beamed when she saw me waiting there. Or maybe I just imagined it. She ran to my direction and I could pretty much tell that she was running away from something.

"Where's my ring?" she asked.

I stared at her for a moment to process what she just said. I smiled in content that she was not about to kill me.

"Let's get you one now," I replied coolly.

I assumed that she was bombarded with questions a while ago as well. And now I definitely know that the worst thing that could to Sakura was to be attacked with questions and that she would have to lie in order to answer those questions.

We walked to the gates of the school silently. And I remembered that I haven't asked her about what she thought about my story.

"Hey, so how did you like my proposal?" I asked cautiously, ready to be ignored but she answered.

"Very smooth," she said. "But I'm allergic to flowers."

I stopped dead in my tracks and maybe seconds later, she realized that I was not walking with her any longer. She looked back at me and had a questioning look on her face.

"What's wrong?" she asked as if nothing was wrong.

"Everyone… will know that… it's all…" I could not even finish the sentence.

The consequence of our deception was so scary to think about and I was sure as hell that I was not ready to face any of them.

"I was kidding," she stuck out her tongue and smirked.

Evil smirk. I did not know she was capable of doing that.

I pleasantly sighed in relief and started walking again. Every student was stopping to look towards our direction but we merely shrugged it off and continued on our way.

Honestly, I was feeling a lot better now that Sakura was done giving me the silent treatment. As much as I would like to talk about the kiss, I did not want to upset her.

I was slowly ruining her school life and I could be considered as her burden.

When we reached the school grounds, Yamazaki, Mihara and Sasaki seemed to be waiting for us. They approached our direction and their grave looks were telling me that something was definitely wrong.

"Sakura, we tried to hide it," Sasaki softly told Sakura.

"But he's just too…" Mihara joined in.

"Scary," Yamazaki finished.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sakura asked.

They walked away from us and there, in clear sight, near the gates of the school was none other than Kinomoto Touya beside Ken and Yuri. My two bodyguards were looking down and were afraid to be in any close proximity to Kinomoto.

He caught sight of us and started walking towards us. Before we could turn around and run, he was in front of us, holding a copy of the first issue of the school newspaper.

He held it up to our faces. The picture of the front page was of Sakura about to hug me when we were in the soccer field last week.

"Care to explain this, young couple?" Kinomoto said with venom, his eyes blazing.

Sakura did not say a word and slowly went behind me, as if asking me to protect her from her own brother.

I, on the other hand, completely forgot Kinomoto's deathly glare as Sakura held my hand and intertwined her fingers with mine. Her delicate gesture made my heart beat faster and my whole body was aching to be closer to her.

Kinomoto obviously saw this but he just growled in anger and walked away.

I gripped Sakura's hand tighter and faced her but did not say a word. But my head was full of many things to tell her, I just didn't know what to say first. I opened my mouth to speak but she spoke up first.

"You forgot about my brother, didn't you?" she smirked. "Still can't imagine yourself without me?"

So she purposely held my hand to make her brother angrier. She smirked one more time and was about to let go of my hand but I held on to it.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 8:**

_Syaoran buys an engagement ring with Sakura.  
_…  
_Syaoran gets confronted by Touya.__

* * *

_**Author's Notes:  
**I love all of my reviewers. Another small fact: Meilin and Eriol will be in this story. And I know I promised that they would spend some time together in this chapter but let's have that on the next one, ok?

I hope you liked how he proposed. And I hope you didn't get confused on the part where Sakura and Syaoran were actually talking let's just say, Sakura delved inside her mind and imagined what was written in the article.

Please review!

**End of Chapter 7.**

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	8. First Déjà vu

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**Hello, everyone. I'm so happy that my story has more than 200 reviews and for this chapter, I'm going to use the third point of view just so we get both of the characters' perspectives. I'm sorry for not being consistent but it's just really necessary. I hope you like it! 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 8: First Déjà vu

* * *

**

Her hand felt perfect in his. The nerve endings of his other hand seemed to be attracted to her face but he didn't move. His face was determined yet calm, giving her the impression that he was not about to let go. Not now, not ever.

Yes, she had grabbed his hand lots of times before but he never refused to let go of it. A feeling of familiarity rushed through her body and a memory vaguely triggered in her mind. Her hand was held like this before – by the same person, who had given her strength to… accomplish something.

Her head throbbed as she forced herself to remember but she didn't show any sign of pain to the person in front of her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him roughly.

"Let's go somewhere," he said calmly. Still holding her hand, he walked with her towards his car.

His two bodyguards reluctantly looked at each other, wondering what the two teenagers were up to. They all settled inside the car and above their heads hung the image of Kinomoto Touya just a while ago.

Touya had proceeded inside the school building when he walked away from the couple and no one bothered to ask why. Sakura was too preoccupied thinking what Syaoran was planning.

"Where are we going, sir?" Ken asked as he sat himself behind the wheel.

"Yes, enlighten us, _sir_," Sakura said through gritted teeth, hating Syaoran's guts more and more.

"Let's go to the mall," Syaoran answered simply, ignoring Sakura's glare on him.

Ken began to drive. From the looks of it, Syaoran was trying to not think about Touya for the meantime. He would have to deal with him later, though he didn't know exactly how. He just wanted to decipher the meaning of his actions a while ago.

Even for him, his refusal to let go of her hand was unexplainable. He didn't want to let go – it was as if he had let go of the same hand once but in a _very_ complicated situation and he had regretted doing so.

Syaoran glanced at the person next to him. His first impression of her had lasted – she would always look delicate, fragile and sweet to him, no matter how tough she may actually be.

He watched her sigh and observed how she had rested her chin on her right palm. "If you're still planning to buy me a ring," her words were mumbled because of her hand. "I think everyone will figure out that you're just buying it now."

He looked away as he knew she had a point but he did not let her see this. She sure was smart. "No, we're going to eat," he lied. "There's a really nice café that I know – let's spend the afternoon there."

Once again, the two bodyguards on the front seats looked at each other. They were silently asking each other if the world had gone upside down – perhaps what they read in the school newspaper was true? But it couldn't be – of course, it wasn't! Their young boss never ordered a thousand of roses for Touya's sister. And check that out, he had not given her a ring!

"I wonder why you waste your time," she said coldly at him, now turning to his side. "When you bring me home later, I'm sure you'll be killed by my brother."

He smirked at her statement quite confidently. "And I'm sure you won't let it happen," he said, his smirk never fading away.

"_Why_ won't I let it happen?" she demanded, arching one of her eyebrows.

"You don't want your fiancé getting murdered by your brother now, do you?"

An undisciplined driver just crossed the intersection as the light had turned green for their car to proceed. The sudden step on the brakes by Ken stopped her from making a smart comeback. It caused them to lunch forward and back again. Sakura paled while Syaoran looked at her concernedly.

"I'm sorry, sir," Ken muttered softly then drove normally again.

"Is everyone ok?" Yuri asked the teenagers behind him.

Sakura nodded slowly while Syaoran still stared at Sakura worriedly.

She noticed his eyes on her and quickly snapped, "Stop staring at me! I'm fine!"

Syaoran shrugged and sat back on his seat. Then, it was silent.

* * *

The two distinct figures in the corner of the café had totally ruined the very calm atmosphere of the welcoming place. Sakura was still glaring at Syaoran across the table while the guy innocently brought his mug up to his lips to drink his hot chocolate. 

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked him, speaking softly so that the others who were curiously looking at them would not hear. It was such a public place and Sakura did not like being there at all.

"I think it's about time that we learn about each other," Syaoran replied almost chirpily.

"Why?"

"So we know more about each other," he said, not convincing her at all. "Look, Sakura," he paused, making an eye contact with her. As soon as their eyes locked, he tried his best not to get lost within the green depth of her eyes again. "I'm not the one who ran up to you asking for a ring a while ago now, am I?"

Sakura growled and angrily bit on her cookie. She couldn't explain to him that she was confused, scared and ambushed by the questions of the students about their supposedly engagement ring. She was not the type of person who would lie – most of all, if she didn't really understand the cause.

All she could think about was Syaoran's selfishness and cowardliness. He dragged her into this and yes, she usually blamed no one but it was clear that he was to blame for all of this mess. Because of Syaoran, her brother would soon be jailed for murdering a prominent person in the world.

And because of him, she could no longer enjoy having a single life throughout high school and possibly share her first kiss to someone she actually loves dearly.

"I thought we've already decided that we're not buying a ring here so why don't you just bring me home?" Sakura managed to say calmly. Syaoran continued drinking his hot chocolate. Sakura, not liking being ignored, growled lowly again and almost pouted. "And _why_ didn't you let Yuri and Ken come along, by the way?"

She knew the dangers inside the mall. Although her training was certainly enough to protect Syaoran, she started thinking of a group attack and being outnumbered.

"You're my bodyguard, right?" he said matter-of-factly.

"Just in school!"

He simply waved his hand to brush off her response. "I can handle myself, anyway," he sighed, finally giving up on softening the girl in front of him. He realized she would never comply to fully act out as his fiancé in _and_ out of school.

Sakura looked at him curiously after he let out his sigh. He seemed lonely to her all of a sudden. "Are you done?" he asked her and she nodded. "Let's go then. Let's go to my house first."

Syaoran surprisingly did not bother her on their way to his house and she did not complain about his decision on the matter. She assumed that maybe he was just delaying to go to her house because he knew what would be waiting for him.

The Li mansion was huge. It had a wide garden and a small fountain at the center of it. The tall gates opened for their car and Ken neatly parked it inside the garage nearest to the front doors.

Sakura followed Syaoran walk up to the driveway to the front doors. She was mostly amazed how the garden was tended and was absolutely excited to see the interior of his house. Someone opened the doors for them and the man merely nodded when he saw Syaoran.

"Is mom home?" Syaoran asked the man.

"Yes, young master," the man replied. "In fact, she would like to see you in her office right away."

Upon hearing this, Syaoran turned to Sakura. "I'll be right back," he told her and she just nodded, still awed at the grandness of the place. There were black suited people around the floor and a spiral staircase was in the middle that leads up to the second floor.

"Wei, can you bring her to my room?" Syaoran asked the man. "Just stay there, ok?" he asked her so gently as if he really didn't want her to leave and as if he thought that it would be the last time they would see each other again.

Because his instincts were telling him that this happened before. He came back home with a certain person then his mother asked for him to her office. After his conversation with his mother, he no longer saw the person he was with again. Yes, it felt like it had occurred before – what was the term for this? Ah, déjà vu.

* * *

Syaoran hesitatingly proceeded to go to his mother's office. He lightly knocked on the door and after hearing his mother's monotone "come in", he opened the door and settled on the seat in front of his mother's desk. 

His mother was standing up, looking out the window. She turned to him when he was comfortable on the chair. The hard look on her face told him that this was definitely serious.

"How was your first week of school?" she asked him casually, though the tension was really obvious.

"It was okay," he replied nonchalantly. "And you were right – I mostly learned what they're learning right now."

"How's Sakura as your bodyguard?" she said in the same tone.

He tried his best to keep his face straight so his mother would not suspect anything because he had no intentions of telling his mom about the 'engagement'.

"She's good," he said. "We have the same classes so there's nothing to worry about – she's basically always with me."

His mother nodded and seemed to be satisfied with his answers. He was almost confident that that was all and that he could go but his mother walked over to her desk, opened a drawer and took out a newspaper.

Not any ordinary newspaper but their school newspaper. Syaoran looked at it in horror and opened his mouth in shock.

He looked at his mother to see her reaction but all he saw was her smirk – much like his own. "You thought you can hide it from me?" she told him smartly. "The principal actually called last week about your engagement because he was absolutely curious about details. But hey, who am I to say anything? I don't even know a thing!"

The son remained silent.

He heard her sigh and she decided to sit down. In all honesty, she was tired of thinking about his son's strange behavior.

"I told you to _not_ do anything to ruin the girl in school!" his mother scolded. "Give me a good reason why you did this."

Syaoran had never thought of a strategy to get away from his mother once she found out. He may not be prepared for Touya as well, but at least he was aware of the fury that Touya would have on him. His mother, on the other hand, was an unpredictable creature.

He took in a breath and began telling her the truth, starting from where he met Haiku. He was really glad that his mom didn't know about their family or else he would have been totally dead.

"And what are you planning to do after the school year?" she asked him after he had finished the story. "You do know that you're going back to Hong Kong, right?"

He remained silent and his mom sighed in annoyance as she knew what his silence meant.

"You haven't even told her, have you?" his mother said in a fed up tone.

"I bet she knows about it, anyway," he said.

Another long silence.

"Xiao Lang," he wasn't even surprised his mother used his Chinese name. "What if you fall in love with her?"

He was taken aback by the question and he would have literally walked backwards and out the door if he hadn't been sitting. No, he preferred not to think about what would happen if he falls in love with her.

But isn't he starting to fall for her?

So maybe it's time to be thinking about it.

_No, I cannot fall in love with Sakura,_ he said over and over inside his head.

"It's not possible," he finally managed to reply weakly.

His mother shook her head in disapproval of his lame response. "What if she falls in love with you?"

"It's not possible, too," he replied, still weakly.

Why was his mother making him think about this? He didn't want anything to come out of this pretend engagement. He just wanted to send the girls away from him in school.

"It's unfair, Xiao Lang," his mother stated wisely. "It's unfair for both of you." She paused. "What were you thinking?"

He could sense his mother's anger more and more but he chose to ignore it.

"I have to go, mom," he finally said, having enough of her lecture. "Sakura's waiting for me in my room."

He also ignored the surprise look on his mother's face with the mention of Sakura being in their house.

* * *

Sakura slowly followed the man to Syaoran's room. As they walked along the corridor of the second floor, she admired the magnificent portraits of different landscapes that hung on the wall. There were occasional pictures of family members but it was mostly of the Li parents. 

When she entered his room, she was surprised to see how clean it was. It was totally not a mess (like hers) and definitely looked like his kind of room. The wallpapers were pale green and the bed sheets were black with green linings on them. A wooden desk was not far from his bed and across from it was another desk with his laptop. There was a door on the far end of the room, which was probably the bathroom and another door which leads to his walk-in closet.

His nightstand had three picture frames and just when she was about to check it out was when she noticed that the man had left her alone there. She shrugged, not minding being alone and bent down to look at the pictures.

One picture was of a younger Syaoran with his family – four identical older sisters and his mother.

One picture was of himself – probably the most recent one among the others.

The other picture was taken almost three years ago and Sakura knew that she had seen it before. Yes! Touya had the exact same picture in his room. It was a picture of Touya, Syaoran, Ken, Yuri, Kouta (the other man from the hospital) and two other bodyguards.

Syaoran had a huge grin on his face and everyone had pleasant expressions except for her brother who was scowling. It was taken in front of the planetarium which had been the venue of his proposal to her.

_Just three pictures?_ she thought. It made her wonder if Syaoran had previous girlfriends but decided that it was none of her business.

She sat on the couch near the door and literally stared into space. She was bored after two minutes of sitting down. Why did he tell her to wait here? Why not in the living room where she could possibly watch TV? Why didn't he have a TV in his room anyway?

_What a boring guy_, she decided.

She played with her phone as she waited for him to come. She even made herself comfortable on the couch by removing her shoes and bringing her legs up on the couch.

"What was taking him so long?" she wondered loudly as she experienced another game over of Tetris.

Completely jaded, she opened the door and looked out towards the lit hallway outside. There was no one to be seen except for a bodyguard not far away from the stairs. Sighing, she went back to his room again and dropped herself on the couch. She was beginning to become sleepy and her eyes was about to close when finally the door creaked open.

"Sakura?" Syaoran called out.

She groaned from the couch and fixed her skirt at the sight of him. "What took you so long?" she demanded. "I almost fell asleep! And your room is so boring."

"Why didn't you watch TV or played some music?" he asked her curiously.

"What TV?"

Syaoran only smirked and opened the door which she thought led to the bathroom. She lazily stood up and followed him inside only to find a media room, complete with a mini fridge and exercise machines.

"I thought it was the bathroom," she muttered, looking down.

He only chuckled and said, "the bathroom's part of my walk-in closet."

"It's not like I had a tour guide in your room," she muttered once again and settled herself on one of the beam bags in the room. "When are you going to take me home?"

"Later," he said dismissively. "We have to choose a ring for you. Why do you keep forgetting?" He almost sounded irritated.

"I thought we've already established that we're not going to buy a ring," she reasoned out.

"We've already established that we're not going to buy a ring _in the mall_," he corrected her. He left her inside the media room and came back afterwards with nine or ten magazines.

Sakura rolled her eyes, seeing the magazines laid out in front of her. It was not like she was not a fan of magazines – not that, at all. In fact, she liked flipping through fashion magazines, most of all, when one of Tomoyo's designs would be featured. But the magazines he just brought out were purely about jewelry.

"No," she said exasperatedly, figuring out what was on his mind. "We are not going to order a ring from these magazines!"

Syaoran did not like Sakura's reaction at all. "Why not?"

"Because!"

He waited for her to continue but she couldn't even give a reason why she didn't want to do it so he smiled triumphantly and began flipping through the pages, looking for the perfect engagement ring.

Giving up, Sakura started to look for a ring that she would like as well. Honestly, everything looked the same for her – nothing really stood out. The same went for Syaoran. The rings were all starting to look the same and the ring hunt was starting to be harder than they thought.

"Aren't you scared of my brother?" she asked him randomly. She hadn't looked up from the magazine she was looking at and patiently waited for his answer.

"I am," he admitted.

"Then why do you still want to continue this act?"

He just shrugged and since Sakura was not looking at him, she didn't see it. So she looked up and saw him still looking at the magazine.

"You didn't answer my question!" she chided childishly.

He finally looked up at her. "I don't know, alright?" he said, almost impatiently.

He didn't want to be asked anymore. He wanted to put a sign in front of him saying, "not going to accept questions anymore". He hated not having answers. He hated being unsure of something. All he wanted to believe now was not everything a person does should have a reason.

Silence filled the room except for the constant flipping of the pages. Maybe another ten minutes later, Sakura beamed at one of the magazines and gleefully called out, "Li! Check this out!"

She pointed at the picture of a silver ring with a little diamond at the center of it. There was a dash of pale pink at the bottom of the part that hold the little diamond and the diamond was almost shaped like a flower.

It was beautiful.

"You like that one?" he asked her, smiling slightly at the happy expression on her face.

She nodded and all of a sudden, her smile fell as she looked at the price. "I can't afford it though," she said sadly. "It's too expensive."

"I'm going to buy it, anyway," he assured her.

"I'm not going to let that happen! We should share the payment."

"Consider it as my belated birthday gift," he pressed on.

"No, it's too much," she insisted on not buying a ring at all afterwards and Syaoran had no choice but to comply with her wishes.

No, that was an understatement. He marked the page of the magazine.

* * *

Sakura politely went to Syaoran's mother's office with Syaoran to say goodbye. He had not mentioned to her that his mother knows and it was a good thing that his mother didn't say anything about it. 

She invited Sakura to stay for dinner but she courteously declined the offer, thinking of her angry brother back home.

The ride was so silent that it was almost painful to their ears. Yuri turned on the radio of the car for some music, which lessened the tension but the traffic did not make it a lot better.

"_It's time to hear some news from the lovely Lynette_," the DJ was saying over the radio. "_In a private high school, everyone was shocked as a student walking normally on the grounds of the school suddenly fainted. First, it was thought that the student was attacked but when he was brought to the hospital, the doctors said that the teen was experiencing a standstill. According to his medical history, three years ago, he had experienced the same thing and had lain unconscious for almost a month_…"

The words of the news reporter were died down as Yuri thought loudly, "what's a standstill?"

"A person just loses his or her consciousness and well, sleep," Sakura answered. Syaoran looked at her because he sensed some sadness in her voice as if a standstill was a delicate topic for her.

"So the person just sleeps?" Yuri asked and Sakura nodded. "I want to have a standstill."

"Why?" she asked him suddenly. "You want to be idle? You want to be sleeping while the rest of the world moves on around you? The student is lucky to have experienced it only a month previously…" she trailed off. "Some had standstills that lasted for years."

Yuri audibly gulped. "Never mind," he muttered. A new song came on the radio. "Why would I sleep anyway? I have work to do." Yuri smirked as he looked at his young boss through the rear view mirror. Syaoran just smiled at him but was still worried about Sakura.

He knew something was up.

After twenty minutes, they finally reached Sakura's house. Yuri and Ken gladly remained inside the car, too afraid to witness Touya's wrath.

Sakura and Syaoran walked side by side towards the front door. Before she touched the doorknob, she turned to Syaoran.

"For the record," she said. "I won't let Touya kill you." He smirked but before he could start being cocky again, she continued, "but, we have to tell them the truth that we're only pretending."

She touched the doorknob, ready to open the door. There was a nice smell coming from inside the house which told her that her father was cooking dinner already.

"Sakura," he said. "What if the time comes that we're no longer pretending?"

It was a stupid question and I wanted to beat myself up for even opening my mouth.

They stared at each other for the longest time. Her grip on the doorknob never changing since she was so concentrated on the deep shades of brown of his gorgeous eyes.

"It's not possible," she answered finally.

_Yeah, I thought so_, he thought to himself. But he was a bit disappointed at her answer.

She finally opened the door. "Dad! Onii-chan! I'm home!" she shouted while she removed her shoes. "I have a guest!" He followed her to the living room where Touya was sitting on the couch with a gruff expression on his face when he saw them walk in.

Sakura's father entered the living room soon afterwards with an apron.

"Well, hello, Mr. Li," Sakura's father greeted Syaoran politely as the man set eyes on the teenaged boy. "I never knew you were engaged to my daughter." They shook hands although Syaoran was still not over his astonishment of how relaxed Fujitaka was taking the situation.

The three watched the oldest man in the room remove his apron and settle down on the couch beside Sakura. "Now, Sakura, are you pregnant?" Fujitaka asked his only daughter with the same calm voice that she had always known.

But then, there was a growl coming from her brother across the room.

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 9:  
**_Touya really talks to Syaoran now.  
Tomoyo talks to Syaoran, too.  
Acquaintance party coming up!_

* * *

**Author's Notes:  
**I know I said that Touya will confront Syaoran in this chapter but that didn't work out very well since I wanted to have a little bit of SS moments. And I wanted Syaoran's mom to find out about it first. Don't worry; the next chapter is dedicated to the big brother and Syaoran. 

Sorry for not explaining a standstill very well – I'll do that later on. It will definitely be a huge part in this story.

Any further questions, please feel free to review. And please, please, please review! It's unwritten (but I guess now, it's written) but reviews do fuel up the author to update soon. P

**End of Chapter 8**

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	9. First Confrontations

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

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-  
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* * *

**Chapter 9: First Confrontations

* * *

**

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**August 15, 2006  
****5:32pm**

"Say yes and I'll kill you," Kinomoto hissed, his eyes fixed on me.

I didn't know if I should be more surprised at Kinomoto's undeniable wrath or Sakura's father's inappropriate serenity.

"Of course not, dad," Sakura said, no nervousness in her voice. She was taking all of this so lightly because she knew she would not get the blame at all. Because she knew by the end of today, I would be the bad guy of the story who dragged his clueless bodyguard into his own mess.

"Then why the _hell_ are you engaged?" Kinomoto demanded, sitting up from the couch, still looking at me. "What the _hell_ is the meaning of that article?"

"Seriously, dear, I was a bit surprised when I read it," Mr. Kinomoto joined in. "All I knew was that you would be his bodyguard, not his fiancé."

Yet again, people were talking as if I was not present in the room. They should really stop doing that – it was starting to get on my nerves.

"Well, you see, it's all just an act," she said simply and of course, Kinomoto did not buy it at all. "We're only pretending to be engaged in front of the whole school because if Li remains single, he'll always be attacked by high school girls. And I, as a very dedicated bodyguard, am only doing what's best for his safety."

Kinomoto snorted and almost laughed out loud. "Basically, you're only protecting him from girls?" he asked his sister and Sakura nodded. He snorted once again then smirked at my direction. "I didn't know you're scared of girls," he told me.

"So you're not really engaged, eh?" Sakura's father asked her. She shook her head. He nodded his head in understanding and stood up. "Well, since that's settled, I'll go back cooking dinner. Excuse me."

I stood up to bow at the older man as he passed by. We watched him put on his apron once again and then, he proceeded to the kitchen. Later on, we could hear him humming and chopping off vegetables.

There was a thick tension in the living room and even a fool could recognize it. Kinomoto was still not calm about the situation and Sakura was looking like she was unsure of what to do.

"Kaijuu, leave us alone for a moment, please," Kinomoto suddenly said.

The nickname made the side of my lips move upward slightly. Sakura ignored the nickname, as if she was used to it already but did not make a move to stand up from where she was sitting.

"I'm not leaving him with you," Sakura stubbornly said to her brother. Kinomoto arched an eyebrow challenging her to say why. "Because…" she paused. So she couldn't give a rational reason to her brother? "Just… don't kill him, please," Sakura said softly and Kinomoto just smirked more. "I'll go to my room. If I come back to see him hurt, you explain it to his mother," Sakura said her words warningly but Kinomoto obviously ignored her tone.

With one last look at me, she left the living room and went upstairs. When her steps faded away and the only thing we could hear was Mr. Kinomoto's soft humming from the kitchen, the atmosphere was tense as ever.

"I thought I made it clear that you are not to hurt Sakura," Kinomoto started. His posture was straight, his eyes trained on me. "What is this act she is participating with you?"

I remained silent, not really sure what he was exactly saying. As far as I know, other than Sakura's single life in high school being over, I have not done any damage at all.

"Did you ever think about the possibility that you two might… fall for each other?" he asked me exasperatedly. "As much as I don't want it to happen but it _is_ a possibility. Did you ever think what would happen by then?"

I did not dare to speak a word. He was saying the exact thing that my mother was concerned about. I admit that they have a point and I cursed myself for not having thought about it more before doing it. But I was in a very tight situation when this all started. Could anyone else have done that better?

"It's not possible, Kinomoto," I finally replied with strangely a confident voice. "Sakura's just a friend. She's a wonderful person… who deserves better."

Kinomoto seemed to be satisfied with my answer. "It's nice that you know that," he said gruffly. He gave out a sigh. "Just please… no public of affection in school, no dates, no flowers, no love letters… ever! Especially in front of me. I am not going to be part of this – you better break it off before you go back to Hong Kong." I was quiet then his angry expression resurfaced again. "Tell me you told her you're leaving after the school year."

I shook my head. "I'm guessing she knows already," I said, uncertainty clear in my voice.

Kinomoto let out a breath tiredly. "You're hopeless," he muttered. "Go tell her. The least you can let her do is to make her break it off, instead of you."

I knew what he meant by it. Since I would be leaving anyway, Sakura would not have to face the humility of having been dumped by me. So if it was the other way around, at least she would still have her dignity because she was the one who was tired of the relationship and broke it off.

"Kids!" Mr. Kinomoto shouted from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready." He walked out of the kitchen to check in with the two of us. Kinomoto stood up. "Li, why don't you have dinner with us?" Mr. Kinomoto said softly. "Call your bodyguards too. They must be starving."

This was not planned. I was just supposed to drop Sakura off, clear the matter with her family and leave. No dinner. But it would be rude to reject. Although Sakura had rejected my mom's offer, it didn't sound impolite at all because it was a little too early a while ago and she really needed to go home.

But what would be my excuse? I was still looking up at Mr. Kinomoto and then I found myself nodding. The man smiled. "I'll call the bodyguards outside," Kinomoto offered. "Who are you with?" he asked me.

"Ken and Yuri," I replied. Kinomoto seemed happy, hearing his friends' names and quickly went outside to call them. I hesitantly stood up and followed Mr. Kinomoto to the dining room.

"Can you please call Sakura upstairs?" he asked me. "I'll finish preparing the table."

I looked at him indecisively. "Oh, just go upstairs. You'll know it's her room," he said lightly.

So I turned around and went upstairs. Their house was different from mine. It was relatively smaller but it was very homey and comfortable. I reached the second floor and was greeted by a dimly lit hallway. There were four doors with different colors – pink, brown, black and white. The white door was the bathroom since there was a sign that said so.

I understood now what Mr. Kinomoto meant that I would figure out which one was Sakura's room. I knocked on the pink door. There was light music coming from the room. I heard soft footsteps approaching the door and moments later, Sakura opened it.

She had changed from her uniform to a sleeveless shirt and shorts. Her room was carpeted and was cool with the air-conditioner on.

"Your Dad says dinner's ready," I told her.

"Oh, you're staying for dinner?" she asked, opening the door more widely, inviting me in.

"Yeah," I replied. "I hope you don't mind."

She was moving around her room. A book was open on her desk and her laptop was on. She was opening each of her drawers near her nightstand, looking for something. On the last drawer, she finally took out a bookmark and put it on the last page of the book she was previously reading and faced me.

"I don't mind at all," she finally said. "Let's go."

She left her door open and it quite disturbed me a bit so I closed it behind me. She didn't seem to mind. I followed her downstairs and watched her skip towards the dining room. Before we joined the others, she whispered to me, "Onii-chan didn't kill you, eh?" and then, she smiled.

I almost smiled back, remembering that she did say that she would not let her brother kill me.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**August 16, 2006  
****7:04am**

The dinner was perfect last night. It unexpectedly went well. Touya was absolutely glad chatting with his old colleagues, Ken and Yuri. Dad joined their conversation and I was left talking to Li.

It was not bad at all. We had a causal conversation without even bickering once. Maybe it was Dad's delightful meal.

I still had a smile on my face when I woke up this morning. And now, sitting on the breakfast table, my life seemed perfect.

Touya was reading the newspaper across me while I was munching my toasted bread. Dad went back to sleep after cooking our breakfast and preparing my lunch.

"'nii-chan," I said oh-so-cutely. Touya looked up from his paper. "Can you give me a ride to school?"

"Why don't you ask your fiancé to pick you up?" he retorted and I almost threw my fork at him.

"Shut it!" I snapped. I angrily gulped my now-cold hot chocolate and went up to my room to brush my teeth. I came running downstairs and put on my shoes quickly. If I was going to walk, I would probably be late.

All of a sudden, I heard my brother walking towards the porch with his keys. "I'll drop you off," he said nonchalantly. "I'm going to work anyway."

And it was then that I noticed that he was wearing a polo shirt and jeans. I wonder what his job was now. He never really mentioned it to me.

I shrugged and followed him to his car. The ride to school was quiet and I was a bit surprised that he was taking the engagement thing very calmly now.

Maybe he was thinking that I better be off with Li in this fake engagement than to be with a random guy.

Oh, brother, I could see right through you now.

We reached the school just in time. I went straight to homeroom and saw Li sitting comfortably on his chair already. He looked at my direction and his face relaxed a bit when I waved at him. I settled on the seat in front of him, ignoring the people talking about us in the room.

Huh, so the kiss was still a juicy gossip.

Oh crap, the kiss.

I forgot to confront this stupid guy about it!

I turned to him almost angrily and he was a bit surprised at the hard look on my face. "You owe me," I hissed.

Realization hit him and he slowly backed away from me. "Why did you do it, anyway?" I continued. "How dare you do it? And right in front of everyone! I never agreed to that."

"This guy was going to ask you out," he answered in a low voice as well, making sure no one was listening. "No one was buying that we were engaged. Besides, the guy was too cocky for me. I can't let him even ask you out."

"Who are you to decide that?" I asked but now fully knowing whom he was talking about.

He smirked as the bell rang, signaling the start of class. "Your fiancé."

I glared at him one last time before turning my attention to the teacher.

He had some nerve!

I swear that that was the first and last time his lips would be on mine. I would not let it happen again.

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**11:32am**

Still by the beginning of lunch time, all the talks in the canteen were about the kiss yesterday. Seriously, someone needs to give these people another thing to talk about. This was all giving me a headache.

I walked to the canteen with Sakura as usual. On our way to the table, I had a glimpse of Hikashi's gang following our every move. Sakura seemed to notice as well.

"Was he the one?" she whispered at me, nodding towards Hikashi when he looked away for a moment.

"Yep," I replied. "I heard from Yamazaki that he's an avid fan of yours," I teased as we settled on the table with the others (Yanagisawa and Daidouji were not yet there though).

She slightly blushed and turned away to get her lunch from her bag. "He's been following me around since junior high," she explained shortly. "I got used to it."

Huh, a loyal suitor. Too bad, Sakura's mine now – well, in front of the school, that is. Sakura started talking to Sasaki while I began a conversation with Yamazaki about soccer.

"You missed training yesterday, man," Yamazaki was telling me. It practically slipped from my mind because of the series of events that happened yesterday. Somehow, though, I did not regret missing it one bit.

"Was Coach mad?" I asked.

"No," he replied and that caused me to give a sigh of relief at least. "He figured you'd want to escape the school as fast as possible after what happened."

Sakura's radar managed to hear our conversation. She just gave an incredulous look to us then went back talking to Sasaki, huffing and whining softly.

"You're going later, though, right?"

"Yeah," I replied. "So what happened yesterday?"

Before Yamazaki could answer my question, Mihara covered his mouth, preventing him from speaking up. "You shouldn't really trust him to tell stories," she said meekly.

I looked at them dumbly and just dropped the matter. Throughout lunch, Yamazaki was still trying to tell me what happened but every time he does, Mihara would stop him.

When lunch was about to end, Yanagisawa and Daidouji finally arrived at our table, each out of breath.

Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's water bottle and drank it in one gulp. Yanagisawa did the same to Sasaki's. We all waited for them to calm down and sat down on their seats. When they finally managed to catch their breaths, Yanagisawa excitedly said, "we have a venue!"

And I think I was the only one who didn't know what she was talking about because everyone seemed happy about the matter. Sakura high-fived with Mihara across the table, Yamazaki was beaming and Sasaki said a mild "alright!"

"Venue for what?" I asked Yanagisawa, completely confused and eager to know what got them all perky all of a sudden.

"For the freshman-senior party," Daidouji replied.

"Every year, representatives of freshmen and seniors organize a party so that the freshies will get to know their seniors!" Yanagisawa lively explained.

I was still not getting what was so good about it – it was just a party.

They assumed I understood it so they left it at that.

"So where will it be?" Sakura asked the two girls.

Yanagisawa and Daidouji looked at each other and giggled. They suddenly reminded me of the two girls I saw in the Sports Shop on the day that I decided to go to school.

"My house!" Daidouji responded, pointing a finger to herself while still giggling.

Then, everyone was uncertain and quiet.

Mihara was the one who voiced out her concerns first and I sat there and listened.

"But, Tomoyo–" she began. "You do know the whole point of the freshman-senior party, right? The host has to provide the booze."

Daidouji did not look bothered at all. "Of course I know that!"

"You're not even legal," Sasaki pointed out.

I was laughing inside my head. I got it now!

The freshman-senior party would be the first party of the freshman in high school and the first party of the seniors in their last year. Of course, everyone would be looking forward to it. _I_ was starting to look forward to it.

Usually, at things like these, the freshmen would get bullied or the seniors would demonstrate their upperclassmen capabilities.

I didn't realize that I was smiling on the outside already until Sakura snapped at me, "Quit smiliin'!"

"Why are you mad all of a sudden?" I inquired sheepishly.

Everyone chuckled at their dear Sakura. "Because Sakura's the youngest," Mihara said. "She just turned seventeen."

I stayed quiet and Daidouji continued for her. "The freshman-senior party will be on my birthday," she said. "Meaning… I'll be eighteen by then and already legal."

Sakura was pouting and I had to admit that she looked absolutely cute.

_Stop. Thinking. Like. That._

I gently patted her on her back. "Don't worry – you'll still have fun even without drinking," I assured her. She appreciated it, I guess because her face softened and she was no longer pouting.

"Besides, Sakura," Yanagisawa said. "I'm still not legal – so you're not the only one." She winked at Sakura, making the girl feel so much better.

We all started talking about the pranks planned for the freshmen. They all seemed so passionate about it. They all seemed so… determined to make the freshmen suffer even though the younger ones had not done anything wrong.

It was later revealed that they were 'tortured' greatly when they were freshmen during the freshman-senior party 3 years ago.

Sakura was thrown into the pool. Yanagisawa's shirt was squirted with ink – but later on, she found out that it was invisible ink. Sasaki got locked inside the bathroom for fifteen minutes. Yamazaki was thrown into the pool as well. Mihara went high on sugar and started dancing like crazy. Daidouji was the worst – she was dared to sing all night and she did exactly that.

"Don't believe her," Sakura told me after Daidouji described her experience. "She was good all night."

"She just hated the fact that she lost her voice the next morning," Yanagisawa added.

Everyone started laughing as Daidouji looked down and said nothing.

The party would be on September 3, a Sunday. They were trying to see who would show the next day.

The bell, marking the end of lunch echoed throughout the walls of the canteen and everyone started cleaning up their tables and heading off to class. Sakura and I said bye to the others as they didn't have any classes with us that afternoon.

Sakura got delayed though because her Cheerleading Coach talked to her. I was left waiting by the hallway for her.

Daidouji noticed me standing alone and was nice enough to approach me to keep me company. It was awkward between us at the start since we never really hung out together alone before.

Our eyes were both on Sakura who was paying attention to her Coach.

"She's great, isn't she?" Daidouji suddenly said.

I nodded. "Yeah, she is," I said dreamily.

"Do you like her?" she asked bluntly.

I was caught off guard by her question. I paused to think of a believable answer.

"Yeah, as a friend, I guess," I told her.

She tilted her head to look at me closely. "You're lying," she said in a sing-song voice.

That was when I avoided her eyes and stared at Sakura again.

"You can't even keep your eyes off of her," Daidouji blurted out. She didn't even let me defend myself. The second bell rang, marking the beginning of the next class. Before Daidouji walked away… "Don't hurt her, ok?" she said softly, as if she was pleading – as if she was asking me so much more than that.

I watched her turn to a corner and just as I was about to mull over what just happened, Sakura grabbed my hand and I had no choice but to run with her to our class to the opposite direction Daidouji had ran off to.

Everyone cared a lot about Sakura, huh. And why do they keep reminding me not to hurt her? How can they even assume in the first place that I am capable of hurting Sakura?

I would never do _anything _to hurt her.

We were still far away from our classroom and I didn't know what came over me but I had to prove to everyone that I was not about to let any harm come to Sakura.

I stopped running, causing Sakura to stop abruptly and be pulled back towards me. The cause of the motion caused her to spin around and soon, her face hit my chest lightly.

That was when our height difference became very, _very_ clear.

She quickly pulled away from me – as if she was burnt by the sudden contact of our bodies.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded angrily, fixing the strap of her bag.

I stared at her dumbly, not wanting to answer her question.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**12:09pm**

Li was being weird again. There I was, trying to speed up to get to our class and here he was, stopping me all of a sudden.

I mean, what is up with that?

"What did you do that for?" I asked him, wanting to know the answer but he just stood there and looked at me as if all was good in the world.

He then shook his head as if snapping out of a daydream – what a nuisance!

"I think you're losing your sanity," I told him and started walking. It was a good thing that he followed me. I didn't see the point of running now –

Quick footsteps were heard behind us. The sound it was making was echoing throughout the deserted hallway and we were too curious to see who it was.

Turning around, Li and I groaned at the same time at the sight of my brother approaching us. What could he be doing here now?

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 10:  
**_Freshman-senior party – Syaoran gets drunk and does/says something!

* * *

_

**Author's Notes:  
**Sorry if this chapter was really dull – let's call it a filler chapter because the action is on the next chapter. And I just found out that I spent three chapters on one day so I'm going to speed it up a bit. Well, now we see Syaoran being crazy around Sakura and Sakura doesn't seem to be softening up to him. Will she ever, anyway? To find out, stay tuned!

Please review! I'm pretty sad I didn't get as many reviews as before so I tried to update quickly. Thanks for reading!

Check out my bio page for new details, by the way!

**End of Chapter 9. **

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	10. First Dance

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

-  
-  
-

* * *

**Chapter 10: First Dance

* * *

**

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**August 16, 2006  
12:11pm**

My brother hurried up towards us. Just like yesterday on the school grounds, Li and were frozen where we were standing. As usual, he had a grumpy look on his face and was sneering at the sight of us.

When he was finally inches from us, we unconsciously backed away slowly.

I let out a nervous laugh. "What are you doing here?" I managed to say.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Touya asked back.

"It's our school?" I replied, stating the obvious.

Touya did not like my attempt of humor. "I meant – in the middle of the hallway, clutching hands while running?" he elaborated and before I could speak up, Li answered.

"We're running late, if you haven't noticed," Li said almost calmly.

Touya sighed in defeat and I knew as much as he wanted to pick on us right now, he didn't have the time for it. "I'm running late too," he admitted.

"Are you… our new teacher or something?" I asked him, praying that he'll say no and he did!

"No, I'm substituting for a freshman teacher," he revealed. After hearing that, Li and I audibly sighed in relief and this annoyed my brother. "Just go away! That doesn't mean that I won't be seeing the two of you." He turned to Li. "And I told you – no PDA!"

He huffed and set off on his way back to the hallway he came from where the freshmen classrooms were. He probably had a glimpse of us when we were running from the canteen and followed us.

I chuckled as soon as my brother was out of sight, making Li looked weirdly at me. "What?" I asked him, totally offended because of the way he was looking at me. "I just can't imagine my brother dealing with freshies, that's all."

Maybe Li attempted to imagine it in his head. Afterwards, he scrunched up his face and said, "yeah, me too."

We laughed together and walked to our class.

The teacher was furious at us but we honestly did not care. It was only Health Class and no one really took the class seriously but the fact that we were late caused the rise of suspicion in the room.

While the teacher was writing notes on the board and we were commanded to copy them, I could not help but overhear what the others were whispering about.

"_I bet you they were making out."_

"_But both of them don't look flushed."_

"_Maybe they were just going lovey-dovey on each other."_

"_Li probably recited a poem to her or something!"_

The whispers were becoming loud and the teacher became very frustrated. She blamed it to the two of us. I was expecting her to give us detention but she didn't.

I turned to Li, who was sitting behind me. "I don't think she wants you to get detention," I whispered, earning a smirk from him. "And since I'm your fiancé, she doesn't want to be on your bad side; hence, no detention for me too."

He glanced at the teacher, checking if her back was still faced to us before replying. "Liking my idea now?" he asked cockily.

"Hell yeah," I answered sincerely.

Don't blame me for taking advantage of the situation – being in a relationship with a powerful heir has some benefits that go with it. I was just starting to find them all out.

* * *

**August 27, 2006  
****5:45pm**

Only one week away from the freshman-senior party. The word had gone out to every freshman and every senior in school. Of course, the sophomores and juniors were also welcome to join but the main focus would be the seniors and freshman.

Naoko, Rika, Chiharu and I are currently in Tomoyo's house, making the last plans for next Sunday. It was also going to be Tomoyo's 18th birthday party so we really had to make one of the best parties ever thrown in our high school life.

Aunt Sonomi already agreed on having the party at their house last week, under one condition – that Tomoyo would celebrate her 18th birthday with the rest of their family on September 2. Tomoyo was too happy to refuse.

Since this would be the last weekend of planning, we were making it all worth it.

"Ne, minna-san," Tomoyo was saying. "What about you guys spend the night here after the party?" We beamed at her idea.

"That's brilliant, Tomoyo," Naoko said.

"You don't mind at all?" Rika asked.

Tomoyo shook her head. "Of course not. My mom won't be here anyway. Our only guardians will be the maids and the guards. There are plenty rooms. Yamazaki and Li could even stay if they want."

After she mentioned Li's name, I was starting to think that maybe it wasn't a good idea at all.

"I don't think Li would stay here even if he wants to," I commented. They all looked at me curiously. "As tight as your security is, Tomoyo, I don't think his mom will be comfortable if her son will stay here overnight."

"He's such a mama's boy," Tomoyo teased and I actually agreed with her. "Well, he just got to convince his mom if he wants to stay here, then." She paused. "You might actually help him, you know."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah, because I just want Li to stay in the same house that I would be staying," I remarked sarcastically.

They continuously teased me afterwards so I just dropped the Li subject and we proceeded on the plan.

I could hardly wait!

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**September 1, 2006 – Friday  
****5:58pm**

I made it a habit to drop Sakura off after her cheerleading practice and after my soccer practice. Kinomoto was totally against this but he didn't want to stay in school for his sister sometimes so he passed the job to me.

Well, to Ken and Yuri actually – whoever was driving.

Our team was doing pretty well – we had won all of our three games so far and we were expecting to be semi-finalists already for the high school soccer tournament in the country. As sad as it was, Sakura had never been present to any of my games since there would be a volleyball game on the same day and they had prepared a routine for them, not for us.

But this month, they were dedicating themselves to the soccer team.

I watched Sakura get out of the car and wave to Ken and Yuri. I followed her and walked with her to their front doors.

The sky was darkening but the sun was still peeking through the clouds. The early signs of autumn were becoming evident as a cold breeze of the late afternoon blew lightly. I noticed Sakura shiver and reflexively put my arm around her shoulders.

The gesture surprised both of us. I quickly put my arm back down and looked down, purposely avoiding her questioning look.

Instead of dwelling on my actions, she asked me about Sunday night.

"Are you going to stay in Tomoyo's house after the party?" she asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I'll probably be drunk to go home."

She was a bit surprised at my response. "Your mother doesn't even worry abut you getting kidnapped or anything like that?"

I smirked then she had an annoyed face. I knew she hated it when I smirk. "Yes, actually," I said. "She actually trusts you very much. All she needed to know is that you're there with me."

She was not satisfied with my answer. "So I can't enjoy myself because I'll be watching you?"

"I can handle myself!" I exclaimed impatiently. "Don't think that by watching over me deprives you of your fun time!"

I didn't mean to snap at her like that really. I was just too sick and tired of people thinking that I always needed someone protecting me. Didn't they know how guilty I would feel if they got hurt because of me?

And then, it hit me. Was that why they were worried about Sakura? They knew she would do anything in her power to protect me, just like her brother did. I groaned inwardly. Sakura was still looking at me, obviously confused by my mood swings.

"Just… don't worry about it," I said, more calmly this time. "What matters now is that my mom allowed me to go and we're all going to have fun."

She smiled at that. "I'm glad you're adjusting well in school," she said softly.

Her eyes suddenly looked like they were sparkling (like always). They were reflecting the setting sun behind me. She squinted and stepped right in front of me so that I was shading her from the direct light.

"Well, it is all thanks to you," I told her genuinely.

She smiled again and gave me a quick hug before opening her door. "You want to come inside?" she asked.

I shook my head. "I should be heading back," I told her. "I'll see you on Sunday!"

"Thanks for the ride."

I walked towards the car and ignored my bodyguards' playful smiles – they obviously saw the hug. I scratched my head in frustration, convincing myself that it was not a big deal at all. I pushed the button to lower down the window on my side and waved to Sakura one last time.

Ken started the engine and as soon as the car drove away from their front gates, Sakura had gone back inside the house.

* * *

**September 3, 2006  
****8:37pm**

Sakura had convinced me last night (she called) to come an hour before the party. The party begins at nine and I just arrived at Daidouji's residence.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright, sir?" Ken asked for the millionth time.

I couldn't blame them, after all. This was going to be my first sleep over. And take note: on a girl's house.

"Yes, I'll be fine," I said dismissively, getting my bag from Yuri. "I'll call you when I need anything. Just pick me up from school tomorrow." Yuri then handed me my uniform for tomorrow which was neatly on two hangers (my pants and my shirt). "Bye!"

I walked up to the driveway and rang the doorbell.

I heard a distinct "coming!" and waited for someone to open the door.

"You're late!" Sakura shouted grumpily when she saw me at the door. She took my uniform and let me come inside.

I remained silent as I failed to think of an excuse as to why I was late. Maybe I should just tell her the truth – I only packed a while ago which took some time so yeah… I was late. But naah, she didn't seem to be bothered about it now, anyway.

"Guys! Li's here!" she announced in the living room. Everyone was there and everything was already set.

I don't even think that it was a living room. I think the room was really a party hall. There was a small stage at the end of the room and a dance floor below it. There was a bar with a bartender behind it, complete with alcoholic beverages. There was a fruit punch on the other side of the room. There were spotlights on the ceiling, speakers on the wall, DJ stand near the stage and tables and chairs all around.

The room was fantastic.

The usual people in our table were all there, each busy with something. They all looked up from what they were doing and waved at me.

"Nice of you to join us!" Daidouji said.

"Happy birthday, Daidouji," I greeted her.

"Thank you," she smiled at me and turned to Sakura. "Can you show him his room, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded and beckoned me to follow her. We went upstairs and were greeted by a dimly lit hallway, much like Sakura's hallway but much bigger. There were maids walking around the floor who ignored our presence.

I noticed Sakura counting off the door on the right and stopped at the fourth or fifth door?

She opened the door. "Perfect!" she exclaimed, examining the room. "This is your room."

I looked at her inquisitively. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Of course!" she said determinedly but it sounded as if she was convincing herself, not me. "See, no one else had occupied the room so this must be it!"

I placed my bad on the couch near the door. Sakura hung my uniform inside the empty closet. "Bathroom's over there," she pointed at the door inside the room. "The blankets will be ready later."

That was when I noticed that the bed didn't have bed sheets.

I then followed Sakura out of the room and back to the party hall. They had started playing music already and the DJ was leaving a very nice impression on Sasaki and Yanagisawa as they gawked on his skills.

We approached Mihara and Yamazaki who was watching from far away.

"Do you think he's cute, Sakura?" Mihara asked Sakura, nodding towards the DJ, over the loud music. Yamazaki and I waited patiently for her answer.

"He's okay, I guess," Sakura replied cautiously. Safe answer – well, at least she didn't say she was gaga for the guy.

Daidouji then approached Sasaki and put a white bracelet around her. She did the same to me, Yamazaki, Mihara and herself.

"Those allowed to drink get the bracelets," she explained when Sakura asked why she didn't get one. "Just so the bartender will know who's underage and not."

"Let's get this party started!" Yanagisawa announced to all of us in the room. She went to switch off the fluorescent lights then switched on the spotlights and the dim yellow lights on the sides of the room.

The music became louder. Sasaki and Yanagisawa went back watching the DJ and dancing to his beat while Daidouji went to the front hall to welcome her visitors. Mihara and Yamazaki stayed on the bar and ordered Colas and biscuits for the meantime.

* * *

**9:50pm**

The party had been going for less than an hour but yet, I certainly believed that every senior and every freshman was already here. Well, those who liked parties anyway and who were brave enough to party before a school day.

Sakura was out on the dancing floor with her friends. Hikashi's gang was outside, having fun throwing freshies into the pool. Sasaki and Yanagisawa were playing cards with some freshies. Mihara and Yamazaki were somewhere in the dance floor as well while Daidouji was walking around the room, filming everything (although there were professionals doing the same thing she was doing).

The underage people could not get past the bartender. Some seniors were daring the younger ones to order but the bartender would not budge. No one could trick the guy and how do I know this?

Because I found a comfortable seat on the bar and had been watching the people order their drinks. There was buffet outside but I was too lazy to get food. I was also too manly to dance. So what have I been doing?

Well, I have been sitting here, drinking my Cola while watching Sakura enjoy herself on the dance floor. Actually, I was more of keeping watch who would make a move on her so I could hit that person.

After a while, I saw her leave the dance floor and disappear to the kitchen. I left my glass on the bar and followed her.

"Hey," I greeted. She jumped in surprise. She was leaning on the counter, waiting for the maid to finish pouring water on her glass. "You can get water outside you know."

"I don't trust the water outside anymore," she replied. She was sweating and was obvious she had only managed to catch her breath a moment ago.

She drank her water and thanked the maid.

"So what have you been doing?" she asked me, settling down on one of the tall stools behind the kitchen counter.

I sat down beside her. "Nothing much," I told her. _Just watching you_. "You seem to be having fun."

"Yeah, well," she shrugged. "You have to treasure every minute, right?"

I nodded in understanding. We stayed silent for a while and the maids were reluctant to talk to each with our presence in the room. We both sensed this so we decided to leave and go back to the party hall.

Less people were dancing now. Almost everyone was outside, lined up to get proper food. Even Hikashi's gang took a break in pushing someone into the pool. Besides, the night was very young. They had many others to victimize later on.

Those who were wet were guided to a room to get dry and change into clean clothes. Some refused to get changed and just stayed in the pool.

I returned to where I was sitting on the bar and Sakura followed. "Aren't you gonna go back dancing?" I asked her.

"Maybe later," she replied. "I need to keep you company. You're going to look like a loner here, sitting by yourself."

Her statement made me smile and appreciate what she was doing.

"How thoughtful of you," I said sarcastically.

"So…" she said, trying to start a conversation. Please keep in mind that our voices were louder than normal because of the music. "Say, when's your birthday?"

Huh, such a random question. "July 13, why?"

"Ooh, nothing," she trialed off. "Just have nothing else to say."

I chuckled at her bluntness. God, she is just way too cute and wonderful at the same time.

There was an awkward silence again between us. My eyes were fixed on the dance floor while Sakura was softly whistling and moving her head with the beat of the music until it faded out.

"And now, let's take it slow with a song dedicated to Sakura Kinomoto from her fiancé, Li Syaoran!" the words of the DJ rang throughout the hall and everyone outside rushed in to confirm if they had heard correctly.

My eyes met Sakura's quickly. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked. She didn't look angry so I had no reason to be nervous – but why was I nervous?

A slow song began playing.

"I didn't do it," I confessed. "But anyway, you want to dance?"

My heart was racing. I was even afraid that she could hear my heartbeat thumping so fast inside my chest. I held out my hand and without hesitation, she smiled and took it. Holding her hand, I walked with her to the dance floor.

At that moment, we were unsure of what to do next. It was like our first few hugs in school where we stop walking and hug each other quickly.

I placed her hand that I was holding on top of my shoulder and slowly rested my hands on the sides of her waist.

_Stay still, I'm watching you breathe._

The words of the song began playing. Her other hand found its way to my other shoulder. She reluctantly looked at me and blushed. I smiled humorously as I noticed her unusual shyness.

_Just hold still, just a little bit longer._

Other couples gathered around us but some were obvious that they just wanted to get a closer look at us, dancing. Sakura was blushing madly now, her eyes glued to the floor as we swayed together slowly.

_I'll keep on holding on for you  
__Until everything is through_

I continued watching her and I guess she was aware of my eyes on her because she has not looked back up again.

_Tell me where I would go back  
__Just to reach you._

Her hands slowly slid downwards on the side of my arms, making me think she was going to pull away.

_Don't leave me here alone again  
__Don't leave me hanging out dry_

If she really was going to pull away, I did not let her. I stepped closer to her, but she pulled herself slightly to look up at me.

_Don't leave me here alone again  
_'_Cause I can't die  
__I can't die – I won't cry without you._

"What are you doing?" she whispered, confused.

"Dancing with you," I replied softly.

_I will return to my senses  
__With my empty tears and my empty heart_

She moved her hands away from the side of my arms and rested them in front of my chest instead. Her eyes widened as her right hand felt my heartbeat.

_I'll keep on holding on for you  
__Until everything is through  
__Tell me where I would go back  
__Just to reach you_

I traced the side of her face with my finger and she smiled contentedly.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**10:20pm**

I smiled up at him because of how good he was making me feel right now in his arms. And the music was only adding to my elated feeling.

_Don't leave me here alone again  
__Don't leave me hanging out dry  
__Don't leave me here alone again  
_'_Cause I can't die_

His chest felt like it was going to break if his heartbeat continues at this rate. So he was nervous about this too? That fact was making me smile as well, because of how his heartbeat matched with mine.

_I can't die – I won't cry without you_

He tucked some of my hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek softly.

_Don't let your hair slide down  
_'_Cause I want to see your face_

I leaned sideways towards his hand and felt pleasantly confused about how I was responding to his touch.

_Please don't me fall down  
__Alone without you_

He smiled back at me and his face softened as his eyes suddenly glistened. Once again, I was drawn those amber orbs of his.

_Don't let your hair slide down  
_'_Cause I want to see your face  
__Please don't let me fall down_

I snaked my arms around his neck and he slowly pulled up my face towards his. He leaned in closer. I knew what was about to happen and yet, I did not move away. I let him mesmerize me with those eyes of his until he closed them.

_Alone without you, and all of you_

I closed my own eyes then felt his lips brush over mine lightly.

* * *

_Normal Point of View  
_**10:22pm**

His brain stopped functioning as soon as her hands went around his neck. He leaned down towards her, closed his eyes and without having a second thought, he brushed his lips over her own.

She pulled away slightly but he was not about to let her go. She had cast this spell on him and he was not about to break free from it.

The hand that was on her face traveled at the back of her neck, so he could deepen the kiss. His tongue slightly touched her bottom lip.

_Don't leave me here alone again_

She didn't know what he was asking when she felt his tongue but she opened her mouth nonetheless to let him in. And then, she was in bliss. He pulled her closer to him even more, as his tongue explored her mouth.

_Don't leave me hanging out dry  
__Don't leave me here alone again_

Hesitantly, she touched his tongue with hers. And that was when the kiss turned wild and out of control. The hands at the back of his neck pulled his face closer to her as if they were not close enough already. He brushed the locks of hair, making her head fall back, giving him more access to kiss her.

Sakura ignored the fact that she was slightly tiptoed. All that mattered for her was that she was enjoying this as much as she knew that they should stop any minute now. But she couldn't stop – she didn't want to stop. His arms were perfect around her.

Soon, they were out of breath and that was the only reason why they pulled away. Their faces were still inches apart. Even from the dimness of room, Syaoran could tell that Sakura was flushed from the kiss.

'_Cause I can't die  
__I can't die – I won't cry without you_

He kissed her lightly one last time before putting his hands back to her waist. Syaoran held her as the last words of the song were sung. He nuzzled to her neck and whispered softly to her ear, "I want to be with you."

His words repeated inside her head and that was when reality hit her. She pulled away from him rather roughly and left him alone on the dance floor.

* * *

_Syaoran's Point of View  
_**11:49pm**

I gulped my fifth glass of vodka down my throat as if it was water. The bartender did not look pleased at all but do I care? No.

"One more, please," I told him and he reluctantly gave me another one. Well, at least I said please right?

I drank it all the way again and ordered one more.

I'm a pathetic existence in this world, drowning himself with alcohol after being rejected by a girl.

Well, she didn't technically reject me – more of, ran away and disappeared after a heated kiss.

The memory came back to me – as fresh as it should be and I rubbed my temples angrily as the vision of her running away came to me.

Why did I do it?

_She let me do it anyway!_

I should have stopped myself.

_She seemed to be enjoying it herself. _

I growled irritably and I almost felt bad towards the bartender because I was taking my anger out on him. "One more!" The please was gone because he was being too slow getting me my vodka!

How hard was it anyway?

"Hurry up!" I demanded. He gave me the glass finally and I drank it all the same.

Minutes later, maybe after my ninth, someone tapped my shoulder. It was Daidouji or maybe Mihara.

"Li, maybe you should go up now," she said. I was still trying to figure who exactly it was. I tried recognizing the voice but I could not pinpoint whose it was.

"But I'm not done drinking," I lamely said in my drunken stupor.

"I think you've had enough," the same girl said. "Yamazaki!" she shouted towards the crowd. I, then, figured out finally that it was indeed Mihara. "Bring him to his room, will you? He's wasted."

"But I don't know which room he's in," I heard Yamazaki say.

"Whatever, just bring him upstairs," Mihara commanded.

Mihara walked away. Yamazaki helped me stand up. "Hey, buddy, do you remember which room Sakura gave you?" he asked me but all I really heard was Sakura's name.

"Where's Sakura?" I asked him, the alcohol was starting to kick in quickly as he guided me to the hallway leading up to the staircase.

"She went upstairs an hour ago," he replied.

I left it at that – at least I got to know that she didn't leave the house. Yamazaki struggled to help me go upstairs. We finally reached the second floor after many occurrences where we both could have fallen off the stairs.

"Thanks, man," I told him. "I can manage from here. You should go back there."

Yamazaki shrugged and did what I said. I found out that I could not walk straight and proper. No maids were around the second floor to help so I supported myself on the wall. I counted the doors from the right and tried to remember if the fourth or the fifth one was my room.

I took my chance and opened the fifth door.

A faint light was coming from the bathroom. I knew it wasn't my room but when I saw the bed, all I wanted to do was collapse on it and fall asleep. My head was throbbing now and my knees were beginning to fail me.

As quick as I could, I walked groggily towards the bed, only to find a figure sleeping on it. I let out a smile recognizing Sakura. I kneeled on the side of the bed, too tired to keep my balance.

* * *

_Sakura's Point of View  
_**September 4, 2006  
****12:07am**

It was not long after I had gone asleep when I heard a thump on the floor. I sleepily opened my eyes and saw the high ceiling of the room. Then, I heard something else – someone breathing on the side of my head.

With eyes still not fully focused, I turned my head towards the source of the breathing. There was a person kneeling on the side of my bed and I wasn't sure now if I was dreaming or not.

"You're beautiful," he breathed out.

* * *

At the sound of his voice, she quickly sat up and looked down at him. There was no mistaking it – it was Li Syaoran, very drunk and delirious and had gone _insanely_ in love with her.

**-  
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* * *

**

**Preview of Chapter 11:  
**Check out my bio page. All details are there. 

**Author's Notes:**

I loved this chapter. I finished it in only one day. I ditched my English Orals for this. I'm sorry for the horrible kissing scene – I admit I'm such an amateur. I hope it was good enough and long enough. This was 11 pages long with full of action going on between the two, you got to agree with me there!

Credits go to Hale for their wonderful "Empty Tears, Empty Heart". I'm shamelessly advertising the best OPM band in the world.

Just to be safe:

**Disclaimer:** I don't CCS and Hale's "Empty Tears, Empty Heart".

Good bye for now! Please review!

**End of Chapter 10.**

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	11. Soon

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK  
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* * *

**Chapter 11: Soon

* * *

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**September 4, 2006  
****12:08am**

"You're beautiful," he breathed out.

At the sound of his voice, she quickly sat up and looked down at him. There was no mistaking it – it was Li Syaoran, very drunk and delirious and had gone insanely in love with her.

"And I really do want to be with you… for real."

"Why?" she managed to ask.

"Because…" he paused then tried to look straight into her eyes. "I think… I like you."

He didn't realize what he just said but he did realize that he was in Sakura's room. Gathering up and holding on to his consciousness, he sluggishly stood on his feet, not looking straight at the very bewildered girl on the bed.

He had surprised her enough in less than twenty four hours. Things were going too fast and she wished there was a pause button so she could ponder about what was up with him.

Syaoran held on to the bedpost to keep his balance. "Sorry," he muttered and turned his back to her. Before he could take a step towards the door though, he felt his world suddenly spinning and his vision was totally out of focus.

The door was moving and the walls were getting blurry. His grip on the bedpost was becoming loose. As fast as Sakura could, she reached out for the back of his shirt and pulled him down to bed to keep him from hitting the floor.

Syaoran's weight dropped on the bed and Sakura moved away so she would not get squished by his body. His legs were hanging by the edge of the side of the bed while his upper body was comfortable on the bed.

He fainted.

Sakura sighed audibly and decided to stand up to look at the current situation.

Her "employer" and supposedly fiancée on her bed. What a sight.

* * *

**6:23am**

Sakura stared at the figure on the bed. Well, she really didn't have much to stare at, seeing that the person on the bed had clearly covered himself completely with the blanket.

She silently made her way to the couch where her bag was located. She was too… preoccupied last night that she just ran out of her own room and left Syaoran on her bed. Of course, she was nice enough to remove his shoes and move his legs up on the bed to make himself more comfortable for the night.

The floor did not creak as she walked over the bathroom. After gathering her uniform and other necessities from her bag, she proceeded to the bathroom to get her toothbrush. But well, being clumsy, she dropped the cup she used last night to gargle and was not quick enough to catch it before it hit the floor because she had her hands full.

"Holy!" the person on the bed yelled out, sitting up on the bed quickly as soon as he heard the crashing sound. "Arrgh!" he cried out seconds later as he felt an excruciating pain on his head.

Syaoran squeezed his eyes shut and cried in pain more as his head throbbed madly. Sakura closed her eyes as well and refused to turn around to face the person in pain.

"Crap," she muttered under her breath when she heard him getting up from the bed.

She could hear him walking towards the bathroom. Gathering up her courage, she stood up slowly and prepared herself for an outburst from him of some kind.

But when he opened the door and saw her standing there, with her uniform and toothbrush in her hands, he narrowed his eyes into slits as if making sure if his eyes were not deceiving him.

"Sakura?" he asked, his voice coarse. "What are you doing in my room?"

Sakura opened her mouth in disbelief. "_You_ are in _my_ room, mister!" she blurted out loudly. She heard about people with hangovers and his condition right now put him to the list of people with a very bad hangover. She also heard that loud noises were unpleasant to the said people but she didn't care.

Her voice pierced his ears and he massaged his temples to ease the pain that went up to his head.

"But I guess you've forgotten about that," she continued. "Since you were too drunk last night. I think I can even assume that whatever you said last night was all bull," she spat.

Every word hit him hard but he wasn't sure if it was her words that were hurting him more or the hangover. He could only remember few things that happened last night. The dance, for instance, but afterwards? Who even brought him upstairs?

He looked at her blankly, hoping that she would get the point that he really had forgotten what happened last night but at the same time, feeling bad that he had forgotten about it. Oh what the hell, he would remember it soon, right?

"Sakura…" he started, trying to explain himself.

"Shut it," she snapped. "I don't want to hear another word from you!"

_You're just going to confuse me more_, she thought to herself as she walked out of the bathroom after Syaoran stepped aside and finally exited her room. She went to Syaoran's original room to take a shower, where she also slept last night after she made sure he was sleeping soundly.

* * *

**6:52am**

It was tense at the breakfast table that morning. Naoko, Rika and Chiharu were done before everyone else had gone down and were watching TV in the living room, waiting for the others to get done.

When Sakura had gone down to eat, Yamazaki had just finished and joined the three girls in the living room. So Sakura joined her best friend on the table but Tomoyo seemed to be unusually silent when they were left alone there.

"Tomoyo, is there something wrong?" Sakura asked after pouring herself a hot chocolate.

Tomoyo pouted at her direction like a child. "Seriously, Sakura, I thought this friendship was better than this," she began saying to the clueless Sakura.

"What are you –"

Tomoyo cut her off. "Why won't you just tell me that there's something going on between you and Li?" Sakura opened her mouth to defend herself but Tomoyo didn't let her. "In the middle of the dance floor… last night. I think everyone saw what you two were doing."

"Nothing's going on," Sakura assured her best friend. "Last night… Well, I can't really explain what happened last night on the dance floor. We were just dancing then… it just happened," suddenly, unbeknownst to herself, Sakura had a dreamy look on her face. "It's all confusing – even to me."

Tomoyo's face softened as she saw how confused her friend looked. More confused than ever.

"And there's more…" Sakura hesitated at first to tell her what happened in her room last night but she did anyway. Tomoyo leaned closer from across the table to hear what she was about to say. "He was drunk last night and well, he went to my room," at this, Tomoyo clapped her hands excitedly.

"And then? And then?" Tomoyo pressed on eagerly. Mood swings.

"He said some things," Sakura said. Tomoyo patiently waited for her to elaborate. Taking one breath, Sakura continued, "He said… He said he thinks… He said he thinks he likes me."

Tomoyo squealed in delight. She was clearly more excited about this than Sakura.

From the hallway to the dining room, Syaoran buried his head on his right hand as Tomoyo's high pitched voice reached his ear. He had heard the entire conversation and all of a sudden, he didn't want to eat breakfast.

* * *

**7:23am**

It was also a tense ride to school. The whole gang saw what happened last night – how Sakura ran after they kissed so no one knew how to exactly start a conversation about last night, knowing that the best thing that happened was their little scene.

They walked up to the seniors' locker hallway and were surprised that it was almost empty. There were two minutes left before the warning bell and usually, the hallway would be packed with students by now.

"Everyone's ditching?" Naoko thought aloud.

A groan was heard from someone in their group. All heads turned to Syaoran, who was still suffering from his hangover. "I should have just stayed home, then," he whined.

"No one's stopping you," Sakura said, not really looking at him. "No one even stopped you to go to school this morning."

Syaoran glanced at her but did not say anything to acknowledge what she just said. He went to his locker, grabbed his stuff for his first class and went to homeroom, leaving Sakura behind.

He walked away angrily, frustrated at the cold shoulder Sakura was giving him ever since that morning. After hearing the conversation between the two girls this morning, he slightly remembered stumbling upon Sakura's room last night.

He blacked out before he could leave the room and yes, he did say something along the lines of liking her. Holy crap.

He slowed down his pace, realizing that he was not in the place of being mad at her. She had every right to be angry with him. Maybe it was best to pretend nothing happened in the first place.

Minutes later, he could feel someone walking behind him. He turned around and saw Sakura, hesitating to walk beside him.

The students passing by were giving them strange looks as to why they were walking separately. He noticed this so he stopped and waited until Sakura caught up with him.

"You're always just after the show, aren't you?" she said in a volume that only he could hear.

He shrugged it away and remained as not so close as possible from her.

* * *

**11:14am**

It was their last class until lunchtime and it was the third time that day that Syaoran had dozed off in class. As much as the teacher didn't want to, she scolded him for sleeping in class but not in a very harsh way since she didn't give him detention. Just plain old… scolding.

He wouldn't have been caught if the class was full but the class was less than half and it was one of their biggest classes. The teacher couldn't do anything much for that day so she assigned them a worksheet to do that Syaoran had slightly drooled on.

"You guys can party but please, don't do it before a school night," the teacher said in finality of her sermon. Too bad, no one was really paying attention.

Sakura turned around to look at Syaoran. For the first time that day, she could clearly see how disheveled he looked. His hair was messier than ever. He had dark bags under his eyes and he had lines on his forehead because of his awful headache.

"Are you alright?" she asked him in a whisper, afraid that the teacher would start scolding them again.

He smiled at the thought that Sakura was asking about his condition. "Yeah, I'm fine," he knew he was lying and Sakura knew it too.

"You don't look fine, though," she pointed out. "You can really go home, you know."

He shook his head but seconds later found out it was a bad idea. His head throbbed again but he tried to ignore it since Sakura was still looking at him. He couldn't afford to look weak in front of her.

"I'm fine, really," he tried to convince her again.

She shrugged her shoulders in response and went back to her work. Of course, Sakura didn't buy that he was okay. She was smart enough to know that he lying through his teeth. As much as she would like to avoid him now, he needed her by his side to take care of him, right?

She was, after all, his fiancée.

And so, taking care of him, she did. She walked with him to the clinic after class and asked for some medicine that could help his headache.

"What's the reason of the headache?" the nurse asked as part of the procedure.

"He stayed up last night doing some homework," she said.

The nurse nodded without even looking at them.

"Did you eat lunch yet?" this time, the nurse looked at Syaoran.

"No," he replied.

The nurse sighed. "Come back after. You can't take any medicine with an empty stomach," she informed him. She turned to Sakura, "make sure your boyfriend eats something and get him back here."

Sakura ignored the boyfriend comment, nodded and left with Syaoran. They walked silently to the canteen, yet again avoiding contact.

But before they could even reach the canteen, Syaoran stopped in the empty hallway and turned Sakura around to face him.

She looked at him quizzically, confused again as to what he was up to now.

"I'm sorry," he said softly and sincerely.

Sakura smirked, amused at the shyness Syaoran was demonstrating. "For what?" she asked, trying to play dumb.

"For what I did last night," he replied, keeping his confidence in check. Ok, he could do this.

"Which one there?" she asked again. True, he did many things last night and she wanted to know which one he was apologizing for.

He was quiet for a moment, thinking of something to say that would not ruin the current moment they were in.

"For… kissing you," he said finally. "It was out of line, I know. But I want you to know that if I had the chance to redo what I did last night… I would have done the same thing again."

Her breath was caught in her throat and she couldn't think of anything to retort to what he just said. She wished for another pause button to stop the time so she could think more.

Since she knew the button did not exist, she turned and ran away from him again. He just sighed, hating himself even more for making her go away twice in a row.

_I am so hopeless_, he thought to himself. He decided to try and talk to her again later. He continued his way to the canteen, hoping that Sakura had gone that way but doubted the idea since she knew he was going to be there.

Outside the canteen, though, stood the last person Syaoran wanted to see that day.

"Had a fun night, gaki?" Touya taunted, seeing how he looked.

"Good morning to you too, Mr. Kinomoto," Syaoran greeted formally, emphasizing a little too much on the mister since Touya _was _a teacher in the school technically.

Touya growled, noticing he was being mocked. They started their usual glaring contest again.

"I heard what you did to my sister last night," Touya said articulately. After that, Syaoran looked away and did not even feel bad that he lost the contest. He was too busy thinking of the prospect of what Touya might do to him since he held that valuable information.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you," Touya said but not in a very convincing way. Syaoran was visibly relieved. "Not right now, anyway," Touya added and walked away with a smirk on his face.

_I am totally hopeless_, he thought once again as he watched Touya's retreating back. He opened the doors of the canteen and went inside, not surprised that everyone turned to his direction, despite the bustle surrounding the place.

Indeed, Sakura was not there. He sat down with the others, though and noticed their cautious glances towards him. He felt uncomfortable as he lifted up the sandwich Tomoyo's maids packed for him, so after taking a bite, he put it down and addressed the gang.

"What is it?" he asked them.

"Where's Sakura?" Tomoyo demanded.

"I honestly do not know," he replied, looking around the unconvinced faces. "She ran away. I don't know where she went."

The others looked worried and her absence was starting to worry him too. Without Sakura's friends saying anything more, he stood up, held his sandwich and walked outside the canteen to look for Sakura.

* * *

**11:43am**

Syaoran probably had walked around school and still no sign of Sakura. He asked a couple of people who passed by him on the hallway but after receiving weird, judgmental looks from all of them, Syaoran had given up asking around.

He finally stepped out of the school and went to the school grounds. A breeze blew when he stepped outside and he shivered slightly at the chill it brought him.

"Sakura, where are you?" he muttered under his breath, scanning the empty school grounds.

He turned to his right and could see the soccer field from he was standing. He walked towards that direction and was surprised to see Sakura sitting on the bleachers, watching some of the high school students play soccer during lunch time.

She didn't appear to notice his presence. She looked dazed, almost caught and trapped in a dream like state.

"Sakura," he called out, sitting ten inches away from her.

Sakura slowly turned to the person who called her name. She kept a blank expression on her face as she stared at him, trying to decipher the meaning of the words he uttered last night.

"I don't want to hear your lame apology again," she spoke up just about the same he opened his mouth to talk. "Just answer this, Li. Did you mean what you said last night when we were dancing?"

His eyes were staring longingly into hers. All of his emotions were slowly building up, ready to explode. Her question was triggering all the feelings that he didn't want to reveal just yet. But Sakura was looking right into his soul through his eyes and he was afraid that he had to let something out.

At least a little bit.

It was a yes or no question, anyway.

"Yes," he answered.

Sakura remained quiet, not really expecting him to say that because if his answer could have been "no", things would have been a lot easier because the scenario would be like this: "you jerk!" then she would slap him then walk away, tell her brother, Syaoran gets beaten up, engagement over, she loses her job but she doesn't care.

But she wasn't ready for this situation.

"Oh, ok then," she said dismissively then stood up. "Let's go back to the clinic. You ate your lunch?"

Syaoran nodded slowly, battling with himself whether or not to ask Sakura again. She was clearly avoiding the topic now when she was the one who actually brought it up. _Girls are the hardest puzzles in the world_, he said to himself.

He stood up and followed her but before they could totally leave the bleachers, he grabbed her hand to stop her from walking.

"No, I won't leave it like this," he said stubbornly but with determination. "I want to be with you," he said in the same way he did last night. Maybe he wasn't aware of it but to Sakura, it sounded just the same.

She looked up at him, unsure of what to answer. "What do you want me to say?" she asked helplessly.

"Yes."

Sakura released his hand that was holding hers and sadly said, "but I can't do that."

"Why not?" his voice quavering.

"Because…" she looked away from him, focusing on the empty seats behind him.

"Because what!" he almost shouted at her and she winced at the volume of his voice. He even ignored the pain that shot up to his head because of his bellow. He just needed to know why…

"Because…" she tried to look up at him with a smile before continuing the sentence with humor. "Because… aren't we together already?" Syaoran stayed rooted to his spot. "No one has to know when it gets real." She smiled up at him more. "But I think I'll tell you when it does."

You ask when it will be? Hhmm, soon.

* * *

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**Preview of Chapter 12:  
**Sakura reveals something about her past. Intriguing. No, not an ex-boyfriend.  
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**Author's Notes:  
**I tried my best, that's all I can say. I've been distracted lately. Yes, it's a boy. I'll try to update soon. No flames, please. I'm still depressed. Be nice. And someone told me the switching point of views might be confusing people so here, one point of view all the way! 

A reviewer also pointed out my grammar was bad. C'mon, it can't be that bad. It's not like I say: _I are DEVILZ CHIK! Will you please sends I review?_ Sigh, please review.

Make me happy. Happy Early Valentines, by the way!

**End of Chapter 11**

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	12. His

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK  
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**Chapter 12: His

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**September 4, 2006  
****11:52am**

"But I think I'll tell you when it does."

You ask when it will be? Hhmm, soon.

Syaoran smiled at her answer and let out the breath that he was holding. Sakura brightened up a little bit more while looking up at him and felt warm looking at Syaoran's genuine smile.

"That's… good enough for me, I guess," he managed to say as they headed back inside the school.

"It should be," Sakura replied with great confidence.

They trotted back to the school, both with high spirits as if there were no complications last night. Sakura chose to ignore and leave it the way it was. They were a couple in front of everyone anyway so it was not a big deal.

Sakura led the way to the clinic to get the medicine that Syaoran needed. It was a different nurse this time, though – a more pleasant and friendly nurse who knew Sakura very well.

"You had lunch?" the nurse asked Syaoran. Syaoran nodded. The nurse was convinced so she handed the pill to Syaoran and watched him gulp it down with water.

"Ok, just make sure you sleep early tonight, alright?" the nurse told Syaoran.

"Alright," Syaoran replied.

The nurse gave one last smile to Sakura before they left the clinic. The bell, signaling the next class, was about to ring any minute but the two were not making any move to speed up their pace.

"Your brother knows," Syaoran suddenly blurted out.

"Know about what?" she asked but she didn't wait for his answer because two seconds later, she clicked everything in place and knew what he was talking about. Her face fell, every bit of dismay evident there. "No way…" she groaned.

"He didn't hurt me," he told her although he knew it would not make a difference. "But he said he will."

He sounded scared and it slightly amused Sakura even though it was not appropriate at the moment. The fact that the Li Syaoran was afraid of her big brother was too funny to be forgotten and ignored.

"He's all talk sometimes," Sakura said, trying to assure him. "Don't worry about it."

They walked again in silence. The cloud of uncertainty was still hanging above Syaoran's head and the richness of Touya's threat was lingering in his mind.

* * *

**September 28, 2006  
****5:32pm**

Sakura was sitting on the bleachers watching few of the soccer players play around the field minutes after practice. She just got there but it was weird because Syaoran looked at her as if he knew the exact time she was coming there.

He put up his five fingers to tell her to wait for five minutes more. She just nodded and stared off across the field. Syaoran seemed to be practicing his shooting skills because he kept on saying, "one more" when he doesn't make it in. The goalkeeper, thankfully, was patient.

The "new couple" became a usual thing around school. In other words, they were not big news anymore and the kiss during the freshman-senior party had died down. Touya never made a move regarding his threat to Syaoran but was constantly glaring and making his life a living hell every time Syaoran stops over at Sakura's house.

Finally, Syaoran succeeded to shoot the ball to the farthest right corner of the goal and the goalkeeper didn't manage to catch it. That was the shot Syaoran had wanted to do and he jumped with joy with his goalkeeper once he finally did it.

He quickly went to the benches to drink water and waved at Sakura to go down.

Sakura walked down to the field and watched Syaoran pack up his things. It became a routine for them to wait for each other after practices and now that the cheerleading team was focusing on the soccer team, they had been spending more time during the weekends because of games.

"We're going on a trip tomorrow," Syaoran told her, catching his breath.

"We're going with you," Sakura informed him.

"I thought so," he said.

When Syaoran was all packed, they walked to the school gate where Ken and Yuri usually wait. They found them playing rock-paper-scissors and Syaoran could not help but laugh at his two bodyguards.

"Do not tell me you're doing that to decide who drives," Syaoran told them, putting his bags inside the car's trunk himself as the two continued their game. Sakura was watching them intently with a smile on her face.

"I win!" Ken rejoiced after beating Yuri with scissors.

"Fine, you drive," Yuri resigned.

"What? I thought whoever loses drives!" Ken complained.

"No, whoever loses doesn't drive and gets to sit back and fall asleep and get scolded afterwards!" Yuri explained.

The two teenagers groaned at the arguing bodyguards.

"Who drove yesterday?" Syaoran asked.

Yuri pointed at Ken. "Then, Yuri, it's your turn to drive," Syaoran said in a conclusive tone as he got in the car, followed by Sakura.

At that moment, everything seemed to be perfect.

There was light music from the radio and the two teenagers sat at the back in silence. They never talked about their relationship again, whatever it was. But hey, they were friends, indeed.

And Sakura never forgot about her job. She always kept a close watch on him in school and sometimes even when he's just around other girls. As much as possible, she liked keeping him close to her, and not just for her job's purposes.

The silence was disrupted by Sakura's ringing phone. She flipped it open, not bothering to check who it was.

"Hello?" she answered. There was a pause. "Yes, this is Kinomoto Sakura." Pause. "Oh." Pause. "Sure, I can come over. When?" Pause. "I have a school trip on the weekend, though." Pause. "I would really love to help." Pause. "Can I come by tonight, instead?" Pause. "I'll be there, then." Pause. "It's no problem at all. Bye."

She hung up and noticed that Syaoran was waiting patiently for her to speak up about the phone call but she was not planning to.

"Who was it?" he asked for the fifth time over the last minute.

"No one you know," she replied with the same tone she had previously used to answer him.

"Why don't you tell me?"

"Because it's none of your business," she snapped.

Syaoran was not about to be held down. "It _is_ my business," he emphasized strongly. "It _is_ my business to know where you're going tonight."

"Since when has it been your business?" she demanded, facing him, fury clear on her face.

The tension thickened inside the car. The two bodyguards in front were exchanging glances and Yuri unconsciously stepped on the pedal to speed up.

"Since you've agreed to this pretend engagement!" it came out almost a shout that made Sakura wince a bit.

"If you're concerned that I'm meeting a guy, well technically, no," Sakura replied calmly.

"What do you mean, technically?" he questioned further. "It's still a guy, then?"

Sakura sighed in defeat. "Yes, it's a guy – but not a guy whom you should be jealous of."

Syaoran had nothing to say after that. Sakura was secretly smirking after figuring out what he was on about.

He was still thinking of something to retort back until they reached Sakura's house but he couldn't. He couldn't because Sakura pointed it out correctly. He was thinking that it was a guy from school or someone else along those lines. He couldn't deny that he was momentarily jealous.

They stood in front of her door.

"You going to come inside?" she asked him.

He looked at the wooden oak door. Before he could reply though, Touya opened the door for the two of them.

Syaoran was frozen to where he was standing – the sixth time this week. He was still scared of what Touya might do to him. Sakura visibly smiled.

"You're not going in," Touya said sternly to Syaoran then he turned to Sakura. "You're in trouble. Go inside."

Syaoran didn't know if he should smile or not. Why would be Sakura in trouble? Was it because of him? And wow, he was not going to die today.

"Bye, then," Syaoran waved weakly towards Sakura and walked back to the car. Yuri and Ken waved at Touya who merely waved back and went inside their house.

* * *

**7:59pm**

It was still a mystery as to why Sakura was in trouble until dinner time. Their father would not be coming home that night so the two siblings were left alone inside the house. They sat across each other on the dinner table and Sakura was still pondering on what she had done that could cause her brother to give her the cold shoulder.

"I'm going on a trip tomorrow, by the way," Sakura announced to her brother as she set away the bowl of soup she had finished. She placed her plate with rice and beef teriyaki in front of her.

"Yeah I know," her brother replied. "But aren't you planning to go somewhere tonight?"

Sakura paused and slowly looked at Touya. He was looking straight at her and making things worse, she avoided his eyes quickly.

"How did you know about that?" she asked him, knowing full well that she could not make up an excuse now.

"The hospital called here before they called you," he replied flatly. "Sakura, you can't go."

"Why not?"

"Because… what if it comes out? What if everyone will know what happened to you?" She could hear the concern in his voice but she was still appalled at the fact that Touya was preventing her from taking the opportunity to help someone in need.

"They assured me it would be completely confidential," she said, wanting to drop the subject.

"It's not like the people there who will see you won't wonder why you're there," he reasoned out. "You can't go. And that's final."

"But onii-chan!" she protested, losing her appetite all of a sudden. "I'll just go there to tell his family that he'll be alright, that he'll come around soon."

"They should just trust the boy," Touya said stubbornly. "They shouldn't need someone like you to convince them that their son will wake up. Dad and I didn't need convincing. We just didn't give up on you."

Sakura frowned. "But Touya, I just want to help them…"

"If you really want to," Touya took a breath. "Just call them, will you? Don't go to the hospital."

"But I want to see him."

"It will just depress you," Touya said softly. "We can't lose you again."

Sakura rolled her eyes, had enough of what her brother had to say and stood up from the dinner table abruptly. This surprised Touya slightly but did not follow her or even called her back to dinner.

She literally dropped on her bed and angrily pulled on her blanket. She wanted to go to the hospital and visit the family of the kid in standstill.

Because… well, she didn't know.

She hadn't known anyone else who had the same condition as she did. And now the chance was being refused to her by her own brother. She groaned – mad at herself for understanding Touya's concern and angry about the fact that she could not tell anybody else about what happened to her eight years ago.

She managed out a giggle as she realized that nothing happened to her _eight_ years _ago_. Nothing happened because well, she was in a coma. Just like Touya had been recently. Yeah, she was like that – that was why the aspect of letting go of her brother at that time stressed her out.

She laid there covered up entirely by her blanket and minutes later, had gone to sleep.

* * *

**September 29, 2006  
****11:23am**

The gang sat around their usual lunch table. Naoko was chattering away, excited about the next issue of the school newspaper. Chiharu and Yamazaki were saying sweet nothing to each other. Rika was engrossed in a book while Tomoyo happily listened to what Naoko had to say. Sakura seemed dazed and Syaoran was the only one who seemed to notice.

"Thinking about me again?" Syaoran said, teasing Sakura.

Sakura went back to earth to glare at the boy in front of her. "Of course, didn't you know that that's one of my hobbies?" she said sarcastically.

But Syaoran didn't hear the sarcasm. He fake-blushed and smirked towards her way. "I knew you'd fall for me soon," he said playfully.

"Because you are just so irresistible," she replied, making the sarcasm clearer in her voice.

Syaoran noted the sarcasm this time and pretended to be hurt by her contempt but decided to stop the playing around.

"What's bothering you?" he finally asked, quickly changing the atmosphere around them.

Sakura hesitated to answer. "Nothing much," she lied. "Maybe I'm just nervous about the trip tonight."

Syaoran knew she was lying but decided to ignore it. He wasn't going to push her into telling him what was wrong. She would come around. He hoped she would come around.

"Well, you shouldn't be," he convinced her. "I'll be there."

Sakura smiled at this. "I'm the bodyguard, remember?" she said softly.

"Naaah, I choose to wave off that tiny little detail," he smirked, making her smile more.

* * *

**2:52pm**

It was time for the cheerleading squad and the soccer team to get on the bus. Sakura still seemed far away by the end of the day and it was really starting to bother Syaoran.

The two sat together on the bus near the end, earning loud teases and comments from the others on the team. The ride was silent and bumpy.

There were occasional bickering and taunting from the soccer jocks to the cheerleaders and Sakura was always the one who stopped any commotion (because Hikashi would only listen to her). Of course, Syaoran was smart enough to figure out that Hikashi had been bullying the cheerleaders because he wanted to get Sakura's attention.

_I swear, when does the guy give up?_ He thought to himself as Sakura stood up again to give some Hikashi some scolding.

When Sakura got back to his side, he finally voiced out his uneasiness.

"You do know he's just doing it to get to your nerves, right?" he asked her.

Sakura cocked her head to one side, not really getting his point.

"He just wants you to notice him," he pressed on but still, Sakura's head remained to one side and her confusing expression still on her face.

"He likes you, for hell's sake!" he hissed at her, finally dawning some realization to Sakura. "And you're doing him a favor by always going there to talk to him just because of some stupid—"

Sakura interrupted him. "It's not like he doesn't know that I'm engaged," she told him.

"It's not like that fact is stopping him from making a move towards you!" he reasoned out.

Sakura shook her head, smiling. She just finds it so hilarious that Syaoran is currently showing jealousy and he might not even know about it.

"There's a reason why I refused him so many times – I don't like him, ok?" she tried explaining to him. "I will never like him so stop being so damn jealous."

Syaoran opened his mouth to retaliate something back to her but found that he could not find the exact words that would make him sound smart in the current situation. "I'm not–," he began but Sakura cut him off.

"You are," she said simply. The two syllables hitting him straight and not letting him escape reality. "Shush already," it sounded more like a command. She leaned back on the seat and made her head comfortable on top of his strong shoulder.

He liked the contact. He lightly held her hand and smiled inwardly when she did not let go. He inhaled a deep breath and felt Sakura relax in their position.

Yeah, the truth was there was no reason to be jealous, really. Because as far as she knew, she was his.

* * *

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**Preview of Chapter 13:  
**Uh-oh, what happens in the trip?  
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**Author's Notes:  
**Sorry for the delay! This chapter is really rushed. I hope I made an impact by revealing a very important part of the story. I had so many majors due last week so I didn't have time to work on this. Also, I appreciate your compliments – I guess my grammar really is not that bad. Please review!

**PS.** There is something wrong with right? The stories are not being updated! Good thing, I've got a list of Story Alerts that's been keeping me updated with my favorite stories but I want to check out the new stories. Maybe that's why my newest story **Smart Move** did not receive much attention. I've already reported this but nothing has been done. Waaah, or is it just me? If it is, that's just sad.

Yet again, please review!

**End of Chapter 12**

**xx DEVILZ CHIK**


	13. Wicked Announcement

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK  
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**Chapter 13: Wicked Announcement

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**September 29, 2006  
****6:20pm**

Outside, the surroundings were starting to darken. The sun was bidding goodbye to the clouds as the moon takes its place in the sky. A lone bus on the road was driving its way to the other side of the city, and this said vehicle contained numerous teenagers, all eager to have their dinners already.

It was pretty early to have dinner but you got to forgive them, they did leave right after school – no one was smart enough to pack snacks as they thought they would be stopping over somewhere to grab some. The coaches recently just told them that they were 30 minutes away from a restaurant where they would be having dinner.

Two students, though, seemed to be unaware of their grumbling stomachs as they sat beside each other, together in Sleepy Land. They were also unaware of another someone, looking back at them – more of, glaring back at them, obviously not pleased about what position they were in.

Hikashi rolled his eyes for the hundredth time seeing that Sakura and Syaoran had not stirred yet. They looked _very_ comfortable in each other's arms and this annoyed him even more. Geez, they couldn't get enough of each other, could they?

He decided to look away and selected a mellow song in his iPOD, hoping it could lull him to sleep. But it was useless. The amount of frustration and jealousy was too much for him to handle.

_What does she see in that guy?_ He thought to himself and almost laughed at how stupid it sounded.

Li Syaoran got the looks, the money and the attitude. Any girl would fall for him. Hikashi never thought that Sakura was like any other girl. He thought she would be more… of a girl who wouldn't go with the flow. He thought she would be more… different than any other girls.

That was why he liked her. She was different. But now, she was with Li Syaoran. He could never compete with a guy like him. He hadn't even had the chance when he was not around, what more now?

He sighed in defeat but anger never left him. Smirking, he decided, _if I can't have you, no one can_.

* * *

**7:16pm**

It took them a little more than half an hour to get to the restaurant. Once they entered the city where the games would be held, they were caught in traffic. Everyone was up and alive now, complaining endlessly about how hungry they all were.

The worst thing was: the cheerleaders were becoming very moody and they were starting to annoy the soccer players immensely.

"I need food," a cheerleader whined.

"I'm so hungry," another said.

"I'm so hungry that I'm thinking of becoming a cannibal," a girl said, which caused a reaction from everyone.

The people around the girl slightly moved away and she was more than happy to scare them off more. "You are absolutely looking so delicious right now," she told her co-cheerleader who was sitting next to her.

"That's enough, Karin," Sakura spoke from where she was sitting. Karin gave her a smile and assured everyone that she was joking. "But _I_ am seriously starving!" she told Syaoran.

"Me, too," he replied weakly.

He lowered his head, causing some of his bangs to fall in front of his eyes. At that moment, Sakura thought he was incredibly gorgeous. She couldn't stop staring.

He felt her eyes on him so he asked,"why are you looking at me like that?"

She quickly looked away. "No reason."

He was not about to let go. "Hey, did you ever meet up with that guy you were talking to yesterday?" he asked her, remembering what happened the day before.

"No," she shook her head. "Touya didn't allow me to go."

"Was that why he said you were in trouble?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Did you need to meet the guy?"

She hesitated. If she answers yes, she would have to elaborate why. If she answers no, Syaoran would know that she was lying.

Taking a deep breath, she replied, "yes," then she added, "But not really."

Syaoran smirked at her answer, knowing full well that it was a safe answer for her part.

"And why is that?" he pressed on.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Stop asking me!" she snapped. "I'll tell you when I want to."

Yeah, she would tell him when she's ready. She thought that the moment she would tell him about her past should be perfect. She refused to think about what his reaction would be.

"And that will be around the same time you will tell me that you're no longer pretending, huh?" he blurted out.

His response caught her off guard. She started to feel uneasy in his presence all of a sudden, not liking the tension that was stirring up between them.

The bus then pulled up on a parking space of a Chinese Restaurant. Everyone got off the bus, all excited to eat their dinner. They gathered around the coaches and waited for the grown-ups' instructions.

"We will eat here," the soccer coach began. "The school called the restaurant yesterday. They are expecting us. They prepared a buffet for us and this will be the first and last free dinner brought to you by the Sports Department."

"We have the restaurant all to ourselves," the cheerleading coach continued. "We expect you to behave accordingly." She paused and looked at the soccer coach if he wanted to add something else. He shook his head. She turned towards the athletes. "I don't want to keep you here outside so go in, all of you. Captains, make sure everything's in order."

Everyone rushed inside. Some went to the bathrooms while some went straight to the buffet table and got food. Sakura picked a table for her cheerleading squad while Syaoran joined Yamazaki and his teammates.

All throughout dinner, the "couple" was not making a move to approach or even acknowledge each other. No one seemed to notice this except for Hikashi who had been observing the two's actions.

They had their own reasons for doing so.

For Syaoran, he thought that it was just unfair that Sakura gets to make the rules. He also hated waiting. He hated waiting for the time that Sakura would feel that their relationship should be real. Who knows how long it would take? What if it never happens? He hated the anticipation that it would be tomorrow – that Sakura would go up to him and say that she is finally agreeing to _really _be with him.

He had done his part. He told her what he wanted – that he wanted to be with her… for real. He may not have done it in the most romantic way possible but at least he did. And he would be willing to do it again if she still doesn't believe him.

It was time for her to do her part. What was with all the closeness? Not that he was complaining, but he knew that it meant something so why doesn't she just say it?

On the other hand, for Sakura, she thought that he was way out of line for pushing her to decide on things that she honestly did not want to think about at the moment. She knew he was becoming agitated for waiting for her but he just had to trust her.

She had so many things locked up in her closet and she wasn't sure yet if she was ready to open it for him. He would understand, right?

By the end of dinner, her train of thoughts was disrupted as someone pulled up a chair beside her. It was Hikashi. She cautiously glanced at Syaoran's direction and she caught the hatred in his eyes towards the guy that was beside her.

"You ready to cheer for us tomorrow?" Hikashi casually asked her.

She managed to flash him her usual smile. "Of course," she replied.

"This is my favorite time of the month," he said. Though she didn't ask why, he continued, "Because we always get to be together in weekends." She smiled weakly at him (she doesn't really know how to respond to what he was saying). "Remember freshman year?"

"What about it?"

"You were the only freshman in the cheerleading squad and you would always hang out with the soccer players," he said, attempting to make her remember.

She slowly nodded. "It's not like I was close to the other girls in the squad back then."

"Thankfully, I was there, right?" he said, grinning.

Deep inside, she wanted to smack the guy for his conceitedness. Across the room, Syaoran could see everything: Hikashi trying to make a conversation with Sakura. He was really starting to hate the guy.

"No, thankfully, Yamazaki was there," she corrected him.

Hikashi ignored her comment. "They even used to tease us – they said that we looked good together," he began again.

Sakura breathed deeply, trying to control herself from rolling her eyes. "Yuki-san," she said.

"Call me Hikashi," he insisted.

"Yuki-san," she repeated. "What are you doing?"

He was suddenly confused. "Talking to you, what else?"

"Yeah, but why?"

"You really want to know?"

"I asked, didn't I?"

He waited for a moment before he started speaking again. "Look, Sakura," he said. "I know we've had our differences. And I know I always bug you – you're probably sick and tired of me, always asking you out. But I want to try one more time… will you—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," a voice was heard behind him. Hikashi turned around and found himself looking at Syaoran. Sakura had never been happier to see him.

"Well, hello, Li," Hikashi greeted him coolly. "Nice of you to join us."

"Shut your mouth," Syaoran snapped. "What do you think you're doing with my fiancée?"

"I was about to ask her out before you rudely interrupted," Hikashi answered.

Syaoran laughed at his illogical response. "Did you actually think she's going to say yes?" Hikashi remained silent. "She's engaged to me. She's engaged to me, not to you. If you don't know what that means – it means that she's mine, not yours. If you come close to her ever again, I swear I will—"

Sakura grabbed Syaoran's hand to stop him from finishing the sentence. Hikashi saw the sudden gesture and became more frustrated but he was humiliated enough. They were starting to get other people's attention and it was only the first night of their trip. He could not get in trouble so soon.

Gathering up what was left of his dignity, he stood up and walked away from the couple and proceeded to sit back down with his team.

Sakura pulled Syaoran's hand down, causing him to drop on the chair. She simply glared at him, let go of his hand and started munching the brownie that was on her plate.

"I _seriously_ hate that guy," he muttered under his breath. He took Sakura's glass of water and started drinking. She didn't seem to mind as she didn't stop him.

Everyone else was starting to go out of the restaurant and going back to the bus. Mostly the girls were left behind inside since they were still finishing up their deserts.

Sakura could not believe that she actually appreciated his possessiveness. All her life, she had to deal with her brother watching over her but with Syaoran, it was different.

And she could not really figure out how different it was.

* * *

**September 30, 2006  
****1:30pm**

The soccer team had won two games consecutively already and these results were making them move forward in the small tournament for the weekend. The cheerleaders had been supportive and everyone would agree that their school was the most-spirited.

They checked in to a hotel late last night. Two people in a room. Yamazaki, of course, stayed with Syaoran but unfortunately, they had to endure Hikashi's intentional loud banging on the wall last night.

The good thing was: Syaoran was not so annoyed with the guy because if he was, he could have been distracted during the game. Well, maybe Hikashi was just trying to make himself look good, most of all, in front of Sakura so he doesn't dare to pull pranks in the middle of a game.

They were currently taking a break. They needed to beat one more team and they were sure in the semi-finals.

Some of the guys chose to hang out inside the changing rooms while the others stayed out in the field. Games were going on at the two fields in the school so the ones who stayed outside sat on the bleachers and watched the game.

Sakura and Syaoran were among the ones who were outside.

"Hey, guys," Yamazaki sat down with them. "I was just having a very interesting conversation with someone up there. Did you hear about that guy who fell into a coma?"

Sakura froze while Syaoran looked interested.

"Yeah, we heard it over the radio, why?" Syaoran inquired.

"He's from _this_ school," Yamazaki informed them.

Sakura's face fell and decided to remain silent. It was indeed a small world after all. The guy she was going to visit at the hospital was from the school where they were right now.

"How is he?" Syaoran asked.

"No progress," Yamazaki sadly answered. "This event almost got cancelled because of his condition. He was their co-captain, you see."

"Didn't it happen to him before, though? Like three years ago or something?"

Sakura was more than happy to not be invited to the conversation.

"Yeah."

"He should've just rested, then," Syaoran commented.

Sakura was suddenly appalled, hearing something like that coming from Syaoran.

"And what? Stop living normally?" she blurted out, directing the question to Syaoran.

"That's not what I meant," Syaoran said slowly, unsure why Sakura was pissed. "I meant to say that since he's been in a very sensitive condition, he should have been smart enough to take care of himself more afterwards."

"Well, you can't blame the guy for wanting to just live like he used to after waking up," Sakura retaliated.

Syaoran looked at her closely, hoping to figure out what has gotten her to have a very strong reaction towards the topic.

"And he didn't know he was going to be in a standstill again so stop judging his actions," she said dismissively. She knew she wouldn't be able to control her temper and she had a feeling that Syaoran was becoming suspicious so she stood up and joined the other cheerleaders.

The two boys watched her walk away from them. Sakura both left them with perplexed expressions. Syaoran turned to Yamazaki.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked him.

Yamazaki only shrugged. "If I knew she would have a strong opinion about the matter, I wouldn't have brought it up," Yamazaki said. "Sorry for that."

"It's alright," Syaoran replied. "It's not the first time she reacted that way about the topic."

They both dwelled on what might have been causing Sakura's behavior while they watched the game on the field. The game was not their top interest. They were both deeply thinking that they didn't even notice Hikashi sitting with them on the bleachers until he spoke up to gain their attention.

"And I thought you would know since you're her fiancé," Hikashi said. Syaoran glared at him and Yamazaki looked like he was going to pounce at the guy as well.

"What are you babbling about?" Syaoran demanded.

Hikashi gave one of his cocky smirks. "I guess I know her better than you do," he trailed on.

"Get lost, Yuki," Syaoran said menacingly.

Unusually, Hikashi did not back down this time. He was aware of the fact that he was holding information that Syaoran did not possess.

"Maybe your relationship is a sham after all," Hikashi taunted which earned a growl from Syaoran.

Yamazaki noticed that Syaoran's hands were in fists and his knuckles were turning white. For all he knew, Syaoran could possibly be digging his fingers into his palms in an attempt to control himself from punching Hikashi.

Seeing this, he tried to have eye contact with Sakura who was sitting at least ten seats away from them. It was impossible; Sakura had her back towards them. Was it really up to him to stop the fight that was stirring up between his two teammates?

"You have no right to say that," Syaoran hissed, sending the glare that he usually just gives to Touya when they have their glaring contests.

"Yeah?" Hikashi challenged. "Well, you have no right to be with her when you don't even know what she went through." Syaoran did not reply at this so he continued. "Huh. You don't really know, do you?" Hikashi looked at Yamazaki. "You don't know, either," he pointed out.

He started laughing out loud, which gained almost everyone's attention. Luckily, Sakura turned to look at the commotion as well. She looked at the three curiously and deduced that Hikashi was up to something bad again.

She walked towards them. Once she was near enough to hear him, he said, "hello, Sakura," he greeted her happily, beckoning her to approach them faster. "I'm surprised you haven't told your fiancé and your friend here what happened to you eight years ago."

Syaoran did not miss Sakura's shocked expression. More to that, he did not miss the fear in her eyes after Hikashi had spoken his words.

Her heart rate was increasing tremendously and her attempt to calm herself down by taking deep breaths was currently not working. She narrowed her eyes to Hikashi, as if sending daggers with her stare.

"How did _you_ know?" she asked him, trying to sound as normal as possible but her voice quavered a bit. With this, Hikashi's confidence went up to another level.

Hikashi just shrugged, obviously amused at the current atmosphere he created between the couple. "Why don't you answer my question first?" he paused to see her reaction. Her face remained blank. "How come you didn't tell your friends? How come you didn't tell _him_?" he nodded towards Syaoran but Sakura only avoided his eyes. "Oh c'mon, Sakura. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Sakura knew he wanted her to beg. He wanted her to fall on her knees and beg him to not reveal her possibly darkest secret. Most of all, to Syaoran. But she didn't make a move. She was too stunned by how fast things were going at the moment. And her thumping heart was not helping her condition at all.

"So what if you'd been in a coma for almost two years, right?" Hikashi wickedly announced.

Yamazaki discreetly pinched himself to make sure he was not dreaming. Syaoran, on the other hand, wished that he heard it wrong. For Hikashi, their faces were priceless.

The burden of the secret she kept for so long was pulling her down, down, down. No, she didn't get to see their expressions because as soon as Hikashi finished his sentence, her eyes were closed and she was slowly falling into unconsciousness.  
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**Preview of Chapter 14:  
**_More about Sakura's past will be revealed.  
Possibly, Eriol will come along._

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**Author's Notes:**

I said before that this story will have around 15-16 chapters. I lied. With the pace of the story, it will take about 18-20 chapters. A little something, something: there will be a sequel. And Hikashi will end his part on the next chapter, he will be just like that Haiku girl. I hope you liked this chapter!

Don't forget to review!

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**End of Chapter 13**

**xx DEVILZ CHIK**


	14. Publicity

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

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**Chapter 14: Publicity

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****September 30, 2006  
****1:56pm**

The burden of the secret she kept for so long was pulling her down, down, down. No, she didn't get to see their expressions because as soon as Hikashi finished his sentence, her eyes were closed and she was slowly falling into unconsciousness.

Syaoran was quick enough to get over his shock about Sakura's past and to stand up and catch her before she hit the ground. Hikashi stepped forward to help as well but Yamazaki pulled him back and gave him a hard look.

"Call an ambulance," Syaoran said in a commanding voice. "Tell the coaches. Quick!" Yamazaki ran off to where the coaches were, flipping his phone open to call an ambulance. Syaoran didn't have his phone with him.

He gently laid down Sakura on the bleachers. He tried waking her up but she did not stir. Hikashi was standing nearby, horrified by what happened.

"If something bad happens to her, you better hide because I'm going to kill you," Syaoran threatened Hikashi, looking at him straight in the eye and putting so much venom in his voice that he really looked like a murderer right then.

Hikashi was no match for Syaoran's blazing eyes so he decided to just sit down and wait for help to come. Sakura's breathing was normal, even her pulse rate was normal. What caused her to faint all of a sudden was beyond them.

Minutes later, the Coaches were running off where they were and from far away, sirens could be heard. The meds did not take a long time to get there since there were meds standing by because of the sports event.

Sakura was put on a stretcher and was taken inside the ambulance. The game was not stopped as they deliver her there but a crowd was gathering around them, all curious what happened.

"Can I go with her?" Syaoran pleaded to Sakura's coach who settled herself inside the ambulance already.

Sakura's coach looked at Syaoran's coach.

"Don't you need your forward for your next game?" she asked his coach.

Syaoran turned to his coach and waited for his reply. "He'll be distracted anyway so he'll be useless," his coach said causing Syaoran to beam. "He can go with you but promise to inform us about her condition afterwards."

Syaoran got inside the ambulance and held Sakura's hand. He waved to his coach and to Yamazaki as the driver closed the backdoor of the ambulance.

* * *

**2:48pm**

Syaoran was pacing back and forth restlessly as he waited for Sakura's doctor to come out and to report back to them. Sakura's coach had asked what had happened and Syaoran didn't really feel like telling her the whole story.

"Hikashi said something and Sakura didn't like it then she just fainted," he had told her.

Syaoran was not sure if the coach was aware of Sakura's past. She probably knows, because she was just as worried as he was. She was looking at him sympathetically. She felt sorry for him as the aspect of Sakura not waking up haunts both of their minds.

After twenty more minutes or so, the doctor approached them slowly. Sakura's coach stood up to shake hands with the doctor and Syaoran did as well. He hesitated though since he wanted to skip all the manners so he would know if Sakura was alright sooner.

"She's fine," the doctor started which earned a sigh of relief from the two of them. "All her vital organs are stable and in perfect condition. Her body seems very exhausted though. Stress may have caused this but she'll come around. If not tonight, maybe tomorrow morning."

"That's good news," Sakura's coach said politely.

"There are papers that need to be signed and it's probably best to contact the girl's family," the doctor said. "We'd like to keep her for the night just for further observation."

"Can I see her?" Syaoran asked the doctor.

The doctor smiled, deducing that he was the patient's boyfriend. "Of course," he replied.

"I'll be there in a minute," Sakura's coach told Syaoran. "I'll sign the papers, call the Kinomotos and call your Coach as well. Don't go anywhere else, alright?"

Syaoran only nodded and proceeded to Sakura's room. The two adults had little smiles on their faces as they watched the concerned young boy hurriedly walking on the hallway.

When Syaoran entered, he had the exact same feeling of disappointment seeing Sakura lying on a hospital bed, unconscious. He wanted to see her amazing eyes looking at him. Looking at him as if she could see right through his soul.

He sat down on a chair beside her bed and reached for her hand. He was silently begging the gods above to demonstrate their powers and make her wake up. His grip on her hand tightened, determined to not let go of it until she woke up.

Touya's words repeated on his head.

"_So, gaki, let's just make this clear," Kinomoto said sternly. "You are to watch over my sister. You are not to let any harm come to her. If ever she will get hurt, you'll face me and I swear to you, it will not be good."_

Even Tomoyo's discreet "command" was making sense to him now.

"_Don't hurt her, ok?" she had said softly, as if she was pleading – as if she was asking him so much more than that._

It was no wonder now why her loved ones cared so much for her. It was no wonder why they didn't want anyone to hurt her. It was no wonder why they were not going to let _him_ hurt her. No matter whom he was.

Sakura had been through so much. He couldn't even imagine exactly _how much_ but he had a vague picture of it. Just imagine being idle for at least two years? Then, going on with your life, knowing that you have missed so much time?

But how the hell did Hikashi know? Sakura has given him the sense that she was never close to that guy so how the hell did _he_ know? Other than that, she seemed to have not known that he knows. What, has he been spying on her?

Highly unlikely. Sakura would know if someone was following her – she's an effin' bodyguard, for hell's sake! And with her brother hovering all the time? Syaoran doubted that Hikashi got the chance to snoop around her.

It frustrates him even more that that guy had the nerve to announce it like _that_. It was horrible and he deserves to be kicked and punched and get thrown to the other side of the world to be stepped on by everyone then be burned to hell.

It didn't even do him any good. Syaoran could tell that he felt bad for what happened to Sakura and it proved how genuine his feelings were but not to the extent that he did _that_ in the first place.

Syaoran was still clutching Sakura's hand when her coach entered the room silently.

"I called your Coach to tell him that she's fine," she told him. "Her brother's on the way as well. The team is planning to visit her tonight after the game."

"Thanks, coach," was all he could reply.

"I'll leave you two alone," she said softly then exited.

She must have read his mind that he wanted to stay with Sakura.

He closed his eyes and felt unusually tired. He was slowly feeling weak watching Sakura's distressing condition and before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep, still holding her hand.

* * *

**4:45pm**

There were footsteps approaching the two sleeping figures on the bed. Syaoran's head was resting by the side of Sakura's bed. Sakura, on the other hand, was still peacefully sleeping; her chest moving up and down steadily.

It was such a Kodak moment but the person who walked in the room was not pleased at all with the picture. Touya Kinomoto hurriedly walked towards Syaoran and roughly shook his shoulder.

Syaoran slowly stirred. He took a moment to scan the room. When he realized where he was, he quickly looked at the person sleeping on the bed before turning to the person who woke him up.

"Tell me_ now_ what happened," Touya hissed, holding Syaoran's gaze firmly.

Syaoran took one last look at Sakura before releasing her hand and following Touya out of the room. Once outside, Touya grabbed Syaoran's collar, pushing him up against the wall and slightly choking him in the process. Syaoran had no spirit to fight back. All his strength was taken away by his fears of losing Sakura.

"What the _hell_ happened?" Touya demanded loudly this time.

Syaoran winced a bit by the sound of his voice and he knew that Touya was not considering the fact that he _was_ Li Syaoran. "She fainted," he replied. "The doctor said she'll wake up tonight or tomorrow morning."

"A person just _doesn't_ faint!" Touya shouted angrily. "Why did she faint, _huh_?"

Feeling more and more uncomfortable with Touya's grip on his collar, Syaoran tried to free himself from it before answering. Luckily, Touya released his hold on him when he found out that Syaoran was not going to hide anything from him.

Syaoran stood up straight, fixing his collar with Touya standing in front of him, waiting for his explanation.

"There's this guy, Hikashi Yuki?" Syaoran began. Touya nodded as he recognized the name. "He told me and Yamazaki that Sakura was in a coma eight years ago for almost two years. Sakura heard it and it upset her then she fainted."

Touya annoyingly ran his hand through his hair. He then clenched his fists and was ready to punch the wall when he unclenched it a moment after. He was trying to steady his breathing as his frustration increases. Finally, he looked at Syaoran, his eyes full of anger, to see if it was really true. There was no trace of dishonesty in Syaoran's face.

"I'm going to _kill_ that guy!" Touya declared through gritted teeth.

"I'll go with you," Syaoran offered, sounding so serious that Touya thought he just said he was going to jump off a cliff.

Touya shook his head. "No, stay here," Touya said. "Stay with her. I'll look for the guy. Knock some sense into him."

Syaoran nodded, knowing that it was not good to object to Touya's decisions. Touya started walking away but stopped and turned to look back at Syaoran. "You know why she didn't tell you, right?" he asked the younger boy.

Syaoran paused for a second before nodding.

Yeah, somehow he did understand. And now, he was beginning to fully comprehend as to why Sakura did not want to let him in her life completely. He couldn't blame her now for making him wait. He knew her position. He was aware of the possibility that she could be in a standstill again and that possibility was scaring him to death.

He walked back to Sakura's room. He sat down on the chair and watched Sakura closely.

As he looked at her, he realized that his first impression lasted. He remembered thinking that _her whole being was so delicate_. But no matter how delicate she was, she could fool you for being strong.

Overwhelmed by his feelings for her, he also realized that he fell for her not because he wanted to take care of her but because… well, he didn't know. He didn't know now because he was starting to believe that Sakura was a tough person. Geez, she could totally live without him.

He took her hand in his again and stayed like that as he waited for her to wake up from her slumber.

He wished she was Sleeping Beauty so he could just kiss her to awaken her. He wished they were living a life of a fairy tale so it would be definite that they would have a happily ever after.

* * *

**6:56pm**

Syaoran had gone back to sleep. No one disturbed him. Touya had not returned and when Sakura's coach entered the room and found him sleeping, she went back out and bought them dinner so he could eat something when he wakes up.

He was known to be a light sleeper so when he felt someone gripping his hand back tightly, he slowly stirred. Still sleepy, he opened his eyes to look at the person on the bed.

"You sleepyhead," Sakura said softly, her voice raspy.

The sight of her up and well elated him. He threw himself on her and hugged her tightly. "I was so worried," he told her.

He felt her tense up with his touch but he chose to ignore it. Instead, he embraced her more, almost suffocating her. Finally, she eased up and muttered, "Sorry."

"I don't want to lose you, you know," he blurted out and paused as he realized the words came out of his mouth. He didn't mean to say it aloud; he only intended to say it in his thoughts.

He pulled away to look at her to apologize but she was smiling warmly at him. "I know," she replied.

Syaoran pressed the button to call the nurse so they could check on Sakura. When they were done and were assured that she was really fine, they left the room, leaving Sakura sitting up so she could talk to Syaoran more easily.

"How come you're here, anyway?" Sakura asked him when the doctor exited the room. "Didn't you have a game?"

"Coach said it was okay for me to be here," he replied. "And I want to be here. Your brother came by."

He didn't miss the fear in her face at the mention of her brother. "Oh no," she said, wrinkling her eyebrows. "Tell me he did not go after Yuki." Syaoran did not reply which told Sakura that her brother did indeed go after the guy. "No…" she cried helplessly. "Why didn't you stop him?"

"Because he deserves the terror of your brother right now," Syaoran answered, clearly displaying his own hatred towards the guy.

"I don't want anyone to be hurt," Sakura admitted.

"It wasn't his place to say something like that," Syaoran said slowly.

Sakura closed his eyes, trying to erase the memory that her secret was revealed. "I know, but still—" she paused to look at Syaoran. She could clearly see that Syaoran would not understand that violence was not the best solution for the matter. After all, he was as stubborn as Touya.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she said softly.

"If you did tell me, my feelings wouldn't have changed for you, anyway," he said sincerely, earning a small smile on her face. "But if I did know, I really wouldn't have let you be my bodyguard."

This outraged Sakura and Syaoran knew why.

"_I_ would have volunteered to become yours," he said before Sakura could speak a word. "It's not about not going back to the life you used to – it's a matter of taking care of yourself for your loved ones."

"You don't even know what exactly happened to me," Sakura said.

"Yeah but I know that everyone cares about you a lot," Syaoran retaliated. "I know I care about you."

"You're such a charmer, I swear," Sakura said lightheartedly. The tension of the room finally flew out the window.

"Just don't scare us like that again, okay?" Syaoran pleaded. "I don't care what your past is. I know I haven't told you anything about myself so it is just fair for you not to tell me anything about yours."

Sakura only smiled at him, glad that he was not pressuring her to explain everything to him. Some people had used that tactic to indirectly ask the person to tell his or her story but Sakura was getting a different vibe from Syaoran. He actually looked like he did not care at all about her past. He would accept her no matter who she was.

Before they could talk more, Touya barged inside the room and hugged his sister just like Syaoran did earlier. Sakura quickly hugged him back but pushed him off when she realized that he had gone to beat up Hikashi.

"Where were you?" she asked as her brother settled down on the chair on the other side of her bed.

"I watched the game," Touya replied and he didn't need to elaborate on that.

"You didn't hurt him much, did you?" she asked, suddenly concerned. She really didn't want anyone to be hurt just because of her.

"I didn't even lay a finger on him," Touya tried to convince his sister. "I just talked to him – told him that there are lines not meant to be crossed. And he crossed a line so he pays for it."

Syaoran was intently looking at Touya and yeah, he really didn't hurt Hikashi. He didn't because he knew that Sakura would not want that.

"What _exactly _did you do?" Sakura asked again.

"He has a free period and well, from now on, he stays with me during that time," Touya said coolly and Syaoran could not have agreed more that that was an ultimate punishment indeed. "And I made him promise to keep his mouth shut from now on."

"I don't even know how he knew about it," Sakura said thoughtfully. "Didn't the Daidouji's and just you and Dad used to visit me back then?"

"He must have gotten it from somewhere else – possibly from the hospital," Touya said but he didn't seem to be thinking about it much. "That's why I told you that it's best to stay low. So don't go to that kid who recently went on a standstill."

"I've forgotten why I kept it as a secret," Sakura muttered, looking at her brother, silently asking him if he knew but his blank expression was telling her otherwise.

* * *

**October 1, 2006  
****10:09am**

As much as Syaoran liked to stay with Sakura overnight last night, he was forced to go to the hotel they were staying in and to play for the finals. The soccer team and the cheerleading team visited Sakura last night and when they left, Syaoran went back with them.

Everyone was assured that Sakura was alright but she could not join them in their last day since she was going to check out of the hospital by noon. That would be the time that they would head off back to Tomoeda.

Touya slept in her room that night and it was the perfect time for the siblings to bond. He could not get anything from her about her current relationship with Syaoran as she kept denying that something could happen between the two of them.

Syaoran could not wait for the game to end so he could finally see Sakura again. They were leading by two points and there was only one minute left in the game. They only need to stall since it would be impossible for the other team to score by that time.

Hikashi made an amazing pass to Yamazaki from across the midfield. Yamazaki received it perfectly and started running closer towards the goal. A defender from the other team was approaching to stop Yamazaki but Yamazaki had managed to pass the ball to Syaoran who hurriedly kicked the ball inside the goal, just as the whistle was heard that marked the end of the game.

Everyone rejoiced and ran to Syaoran, congratulating him for a wonderful shot.

A victory party was scheduled during lunch and all of the players went to the changing rooms to shower before the event. Syaoran hurriedly took a shower and went out to wait for Sakura's arrival.

He was sitting on the bleachers, watching the school workers fix up the field, when he saw a bunch of cameras and reporters waiting just outside the school. He didn't like the looks of that.

There were players from another team sitting not far away from him so he decided to approach them.

"What do you think is that all about?" he asked them.

They looked at him curiously then stared back at the crowd outside the school. One of them smirked, "it's because of you, you slow person," the guy replied.

"Me?"

"The famous Li Syaoran at the height of his high school soccer career," another said dramatically, as if copying a news anchor. "They heard you're going here and well, since you won, it makes it more interesting."

"Also, I guess they want to know about your fiancé," the third guy joined in. "She's alright now, yeah?"

Syaoran dumbly nodded and walked back to where he was sitting just a while ago. If what they were saying was true, he was definitely doomed. Because the last thing he wanted to happen about their pretend engagement was for it to be public.

As in _really _public. He didn't want to happen what was unraveling in front of his eyes.

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**Preview of Chapter 15:  
**_Ok, definitely Eriol comes along.  
__And a little mention about Winter Formal_.

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**  
Author's Notes:**

Ok, folks! We're speeding up the story! I _will_ update soon, I promise you but please do your part and review! It stimulates me to write faster. It's true; I think every writer would agree with me on this. I love you all for reading!

Expect some drama next chapter!

Don't forget to review!

**End of Chapter 14**

**xx DEVILZ CHIK**


	15. Enjoy the Music

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

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**Chapter 15: Enjoy the Music

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**October 1, 2006  
****3:15pm**

Sakura sank deeper into the front seat after glancing behind her. The media cars and vans were still following them. They were allowed to not ride the bus with the others since it would just cause trouble. So here they were, stuck with Touya.

Touya looked at the side mirror of his car and saw what was distressing Sakura. He looked at the rear view mirror to look at Syaoran, who looked the same since he saw him last.

When Touya arrived at the school with Sakura, they didn't even get a chance to go down since they were surrounded by reporters and cameramen. They just dispersed when Syaoran came walking down with the rest of his teammates. Syaoran was suddenly bombarded with questions and since he could not let his sister to come to the gaki's rescue, he did it himself.

He pulled the boy out of the crowd (just like he used to) and threw him inside his car rather roughly. Syaoran was white and pale when he got inside the car and it wasn't because of Touya's manhandling him.

"My mom's going to kill me," he had said and that was the last thing he said.

Sakura had looked at him worriedly but he didn't even seem to notice that Sakura was even there. He was too… preoccupied with what his mom was going to do with him.

The car had an awkward atmosphere and the three occupants were all aware of it. All of a sudden, someone's phone rang.

Sakura checked hers and Touya's but it wasn't theirs. They turned to the person on the back seat who was making no move at all to pick up his phone. He still looked dazed.

"Gaki," Touya said hardly, sending Syaoran back to earth. "Aren't you going to get that?"

Syaoran looked confused for a moment before it hit him that his phone was the source of the recent noise in the car. He looked at the monitor displaying who was calling and turned paler than he already was.

"It's my mom," he muttered slowly. "She can't kill me over the phone, right?"

Touya just smirked seeing the gaki in pain. _Well, he brought it all on himself,_ Touya thought.

Syaoran pressed the button and slowly put the phone in his ear. "Hello?" he greeted unsurely.

Unusually, his mom's voice was calm. "You are going to get back here as soon as possible and you are going to clean up the mess that you made," she was saying. "It's up to you if you want to continue your act but consider Sakura, will you?"

"Yes, mother," he replied flatly.

"I'll talk to you when you get here," she said. "Our investigators are still looking for the person who called the media. It shouldn't have gone out like this."

"Yes, mother," he said in the same tone.

He hung up after listening to his mom's few more words about responsibility and other things. He sighed tiredly and looked out the window again.

"See, you're still alive," Touya said mockingly.

Syaoran turned to him and smiled sarcastically.

"What did she say?" Touya asked, interested. "How much trouble are you in?"

"A lot," Syaoran simply replied. "Apparently, the article that Yanagisawa wrote about my proposal is not enough for them. They have also been calling the house to schedule an interview with me and Sakura."

Hearing her name, Sakura decided to speak up as well, "me?" she shrieked. "I don't want to! It's bad enough to pretend in school but we also have to do it in front of _those_ people?!"

"Of course, you don't have to," Syaoran assured her. "This is my mess. You got involved because of me and I apologize for that. But you don't have to worry about anything; I'm not going to ask you to clean up after me."

And of course, when he said that, he didn't know at that time how much help he _exactly_ needed from Sakura.

* * *

**5:39pm**

The Kinomotos had dropped off Li Syaoran successfully and safely and now the two siblings were sitting down on the living room couch and were staring at the blank TV in front of them. They had managed to get away from the tailing news reporters in the middle of traffic but they didn't expect them to know Li's address and wait for him right there outside his house.

With the help of Li's bodyguards surrounding the house, Touya managed to get the car inside and outside the gates. It was not soon after that the two discovered that there were news reporters standing by outside their house also.

Touya drove away from their street and luckily the reporters didn't notice his car. He had called for "back up" from the Li residence and that was why there were bodyguards around their house too, trying to send the snooping media people away.

Sakura reached for the remote and turned on the TV. Afternoon news was on.

"_I am still outside the house of the center of teen controversy right now,_" the reporter was saying and the background was Li's house. "_Imamura_ _is currently outside the other teen in question._" The shot was cut in half so that on the other half, another reporter was shown in front of Sakura's house. "_Imamura? Any changes?_"

The reporter on the right started moving and talking. "_Sakura Kinomoto has recently arrived here with her brother together with what looks like Li's bodyguards. They have refused to answer any questions and the bodyguards are clearly here to protect the fiancé. We are also being asked to leave as Sakura will not be entertaining any of us here. They said she needs rest and this might be because of her recent trip to the hospital. Is it really that tiring to be the fiancé of Li Syaoran?"_

Sakura groaned and switched the channel. It was the same thing, only a different reporter. _"Li Syaoran arrived at his house in Sakura Kinomoto's brother's car,_" the reporter was saying. "_The tight security of the area hinders us to ask questions to the two teenagers. Minutes later, the car left the vicinity. It is clear that Sakura Kinomoto is not going to stay with Li Syaoran tonight. This might be because of Sakura's overprotective brother, Touya Kinomoto, who was previously Syaoran Li's top bodyguard. Did the relationship of his employer with his sister cause him to quit the job? This question will soon be answered–_"

Sakura switched the TV off and sighed.

"I don't believe this," Touya muttered angrily. "They're including me in this too? I swear I'm going to _kill_ the guy who leaked out all of this."

"You will not be a murderer," Sakura said robotically, as if she had heard Touya say that phrase a million times before (well, she did). Sakura groaned again. "Onii-chan…" she whined. "Make them go away!"

Touya smirked at his sister's sudden change of moods. "I thought you said I won't be a murderer?" he said. He only sighed after Sakura arched one of her eyebrows at him. "We'll get through this. The gaki keeps his words, he'll fix this mess."

"He does that, huh?" Sakura said wonderingly.

Touya stood up to prepare for their dinner. Their dad would not be coming until next week and both were glad that their father would not witness any of what was happening right now.

While Touya was in the kitchen, their phone rang and Sakura ran to get it.

"Kinomoto residence," she greeted.

"Sakura? It's me," Li's voice could be heard from the other line.

"Hey, how are things there?" she asked, concerned.

"The same," she could hear his exhaustion from the other side and she could not help but feel slightly sorry for him. "How are things there?"

"Thanks to your bodyguards, none of them is trying to break down our gate," Sakura said gratefully.

"I'm really sorry for all this," he told her sincerely. "They won't believe me that this engagement is, well, real…"

Sakura forced a chuckle. "Maybe because it's not."

"But it should look like it is," Syaoran pointed out. "I'm really sorry, Sakura, about what I'm putting you through right now. And I'm really sorry for this but I need to ask you one favor."

"Sure, as long as I can do it," Sakura replied, happy that she could be of help to him.

Sakura heard him take a long breath before speaking, "I don't think it's wise for you to go to school tomorrow," Sakura was about to object but he continued quickly. "There will be reporters there too, you know. And they would want to question you and your friends. My mom called the principal to not let any reporters in but they will be waiting outside. They can stop anyone going inside the school to interrogate about us. The principal had also warned every parent about the circumstances tomorrow but still, it will be safer for you to stay there."

Sakura sighed. "Fine, I see your point," she said. "But I don't agree that hiding in here is the best option. I don't really like the idea of staying inside my house while you do whatever. I'm in _this_, too. Don't be fixated at the idea that you're alone here."

Syaoran closed his eyes and listened to her carefully. Oh god, how much he loves her so much more right now. "Thanks," he said softly. He missed her already. "Don't go to school tomorrow, alright? Can you promise me that?"

"Yeah, okay, I promise," she replied.

"Okay, I have to go now," he said, although he wanted to keep talking to her. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Take care of yourself," she said genuinely, which earned a smile from Syaoran.

"Alright, you too," he said, still smiling then hung up.

He turned around and saw his mother standing there. His mother did not miss the smile on his face after he got off the phone with Sakura.

"You lied to me," she told him sternly after seeing his face.

Confused, he asked, "about what?"

"You said it's not possible for you to fall in love with her," she began and Syaoran honestly did not want to hear the rest of the sentence. "But you already _have_ fallen in love with her!" Who knew his mother can read him so well? "I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's unfair for both of you."

"What do you want me to do?" he cried helplessly and in the process, really admitting to his mother that he has fallen in love with Sakura.

"You have to end this," his mother said in a tone of finality. "You have to end this pretending."

"But I can't," he said, his voice cracking. "I don't want to."

Yeah, he couldn't because he was no longer pretending. In his mind, it was real. He chooses to forget that his plan was originally to just send the high school girls away from him. He was only really waiting for Sakura to tell him that it was real for her, too.

"Xiao Lang, you're leaving by the end of the school year," his mother reminded him.

His mother had a point and he looked away.

* * *

**October 2, 2006 – Monday  
****3:13pm**

Sakura was sitting idly on her couch, staring at the wall across the room as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. She actually believed that it would start moving soon to entertain her.

Apparently, Syaoran had advised/asked all of her friends to not go to school that day as well so she had no one inside the school to ask what exactly happened that day. Touya didn't go to school, either, and was throwing mild tantrums as he missed his chance to torture Hikashi that day.

"Sakura! Get down here, will you?" Touya shouted from downstairs. His voice didn't sound so urgent but Sakura ran down to see what was going on.

The number of vans parked outside their house lessened around lunch time. It was irritating for the two siblings that they had to keep all their curtains closed and all their lights completely switched off after dinner last night.

"What is it?" she asked her brother as she settled down beside him on the living room couch.

"The gaki called for a press conference," Touya replied, resting his back on the back of the couch.

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and her head immediately turned towards the TV. Commercials were on.

"He did it this morning," Touya explained. "And we're about to know what he said." Touya crossed his arms behind his head, making himself comfortable as he waited for the show to go back on.

Sakura opened her mouth unbelievably towards her brother. "I can't believe you're taking this lightly!" she almost shouted, throwing a small pillow towards him. Touya caught it before it hit him and was confused as to why his sister was angry.

"What's wrong with you?"

Sakura only huffed and glared at the TV instead. "For all I know, he could have announced that he's leaving to escape all this madness," she muttered, which Touya heard clearly.

"And that bothers you because?"

She momentarily sent her glare to her brother before turning her full attention to the TV since the show was back.

"_As promised, here's a recorded video of the press conference with Li Syaoran that happened this morning,_" the host was saying. There was a loud cheer coming from the audience in the studio.

Without further ado, the screen showed Syaoran himself behind a table, surrounded by bodyguards with many microphones in front of him. There were occasional flashes of cameras and from the looks of it, Syaoran seemed ready for all of it. Sakura could not recognize the place and she turned towards her brother to ask him if he knows where it is.

"It's in his house," Touya answered, his eyes fixed on the TV. Syaoran had not begun talking yet. "Well, their other house – more of a rest house. Not far from here."

Sakura nodded and listened intently to Syaoran. She smiled as she recognized Ken and Yuri on either side of him, clearly showing concern towards their young master.

"_I want to thank you all for being here_," Syaoran started. "_I guess you all want information, seeing as you've waited patiently outside of my house._" Laughs could be heard coming from the people who were present there. Then he continued, "_I've called this conference to address the questions that you want me to answer._"

Syaoran paused and took a paper out of the front pocket of his coat. He opened the paper and started to deliver his speech.

"_Sakura Kinomoto is a very special person to me. From the moment I met her, I knew that I want to take care of her for the rest of my life. It's not that she needed much taking care of, but it's a matter of me wanting to spend the rest of my life with her. It wasn't much of love at first sight, it was more of…_" he paused to look at the camera. Sakura caught her breath.

"…_wonder at first sight,_" Syaoran was smiling as he speaks. "_To tell you the truth, we had no intention of making all of this in public – that was why we kept our relationship a secret. I was so happy when my mother allowed me to go to school since it meant that I would be spending more time with Sakura. But once I got there and realized that there are many guys after her, I can't just keep my mouth shut. That was why the article was' published'. I never meant for the media to get a hold of it._" He paused.

"_And now, I'm kindly asking you to please back off,_" it was surprising that he didn't sound rude. "_Sakura and I are going on with our lives peacefully. There's nothing much to tell about our story._" He was no longer reading from the paper. "_She's not pregnant. I don't really need to get married once I go back to Hong Kong. We didn't get engaged to make her brother mad. And no, her brother did not quit his job because of my relationship with her. Sakura and I, believe it or not, are just two normal teenagers, facing the world together._"

There was applause after a moment of silence. Syaoran faded out and the screen was back to the host. "_And that was the romantic Li Syaoran. I guess they _are_ just two people in love_," the host was saying. Touya reached out for the remote and switched off the TV.

He turned to his sister who was still blankly staring at the TV monitor.

"Sakura?" he called worriedly.

Sakura jumped a little and slowly smiled at her brother. "Huh, I didn't know how he can fix everything with _that_," she said but Touya knew that she felt something more about the matter.

"You better call him," Touya said quietly.

For the second time that day, Sakura looked at her brother unbelievably. She slowly nodded, still had a confusing expression on her face and went to get the phone. Touya left the living room to go to the kitchen and that was when he noticed that there were no more media people outside their house. The street was totally empty.

Sakura dialed Syaoran's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Yup?" he greeted nonchalantly.

"Hey, it's me," Sakura said meekly, twirling the telephone cord with her finger. There was a long pause between them before Syaoran spoke up.

"Hey, what's up?" he said, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"I just saw your press conference," he didn't say anything so she continued, "I think I should better watch out now since you can lie with a straight face."

"I wasn't exactly lying," he admitted. "Sakura…"

"Li," she said, cutting him off. "I don't really want to talk about it. Just answer this: when are you… when are you going back to Hong Kong?"

He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. "After graduation," he confessed and that was it for Sakura.

She hung up and ran to her room. Touya stared at the staircase where she had run off to and wondered what the two had talked about. But he had a vague idea what it was.

* * *

**October 4, 2006 – Wednesday  
****8:10am**

Syaoran looked at the door and he could see Ken and Yuri standing guard outside the classroom. Sakura was absent yesterday and he figured that she didn't want to see him and that she didn't want to do her job.

His two bodyguards were left to no choice but to be _his_ bodyguards in school also. His classmates and the rest of the student body assumed that he needed a bodyguard after the whole commotion. It didn't even occur to them that he _had_ a bodyguard in school already.

And well, today? She was absent again.

He tried calling her but Touya kept saying that she didn't want to talk to him.

He stared at the board but none of what was written there was getting inside his head. He couldn't even understand what the teacher was saying anymore. The empty chair in front of him was bothering him so much.

* * *

**8:22am**

Sakura ran towards their school gates, silently cursing her brother for not waking her up this morning and for leaving so early and not telling her about it. On his note, he'd told her to ask Syaoran for a ride but did he forget that they were not in speaking terms right now?

She headed towards the high school office to get a tardy pass. She looked disheveled as she opened the door, panting. She suddenly felt embarrassed seeing that the office assistant who signs the tardy pass was talking to someone. Hhmm, a new student.

Sakura approached silently and shyly waved at the office assistant. The office assistant knew her well, but not as a tardy person – most of all, so early in the year.

"I never thought you'd show yourself around here again," Liz, the office assistant, told her after excusing herself to the new student. She took out a tardy slip, signed it and handed it to Sakura.

"My onii-chan didn't tell me that he had an early meeting today," Sakura explained. "I was expecting him to wake me up. I didn't mean to be late."

"There's only less than thirty minutes left to class," Liz said, looking at the clock behind her. "Why don't you give this new guy a tour?" she asked, nodding her head towards the new student in front of her.

Sakura slowly turned and checked out the new guy. His dark blue hair was striking and his fair, white complexion could pass off as a girl's. The guy fully turned towards her and stretched out his hand politely.

"Hi, I'm Hirigazawa Eriol," he said in a very masculine voice. Sakura was frozen for a moment and smacked herself thoughtfully for having thought that this guy contained feminine features. He was totally hot, hot, hot!

Liz coughed to get her attention and Sakura blushed madly before shaking the guy's hand. "I'm Kinomoto Sakura," she said, trying to sound very poised.

"So… are you going to tour him around?" Liz asked her again. "I have a lot of things to do for the Winter Formal. Please, Sakura?"

Sakura nodded quickly. "Absolutely!" she replied ecstatically. "Anything to help you, Liz!" Liz just smirked and started writing her another note. Sakura took it happily and led the new guy out to the hallway.

She was freaking out inside her head. There she was, being so giddy like a high school girl would, just because she saw someone who is awesomely handsome! Well, she _was_ a high school girl after all.

Wasn't that what the media people kept calling her these past few days in the news? She huffed unconsciously, remembering that she had missed school because she was trying to avoid Syaoran.

Eriol noticed her sudden change of mood and turned to her concernedly.

"Is everything alright?" he asked her.

She smiled and nodded. "Of course," she replied. They reached the seniors' locker hallway. "This is the seniors' locker hallway." And that was when it hit her that she didn't even know what grade the guy was in so she asked, "what grade are you in, by the way?"

"Twelfth," he replied and she beamed.

"Perfect!" she said, clapping her hands together and walking towards her own locker. "I honestly went here because I needed to drop some things in my locker. What's your locker number?"

Eriol took a paper out of his pocket and read out his locker number to her. Sakura was in the midst of putting in two notebooks in her locker and she didn't quite hear what he said. She slammed her locker shut quickly and asked him to repeat it again.

"Sorry," she muttered, walking along the lockers, looking for the guy's locker. "Here it is! Turn right to your first number, then turn it to the left, pass by your first number then stop at your second number then turn to the right again for your last number."

Eriol just smiled at her instructions and appreciated her help. He managed to open his locker but only stared at it, seeing as he didn't know what to leave.

"Let me see your schedule," she asked and Eriol handed it to her. Her mouth hung open as she realized that she had the same schedule as he did.

"Is there something wrong?" Eriol asked.

She handed it back to him. "No, not really," she replied. "It's just that: I guess you're stuck with me. And well, this other person," she added, remembering Syaoran.

She told him which books he needed until break time when he could go back to his locker to get them. They walked together to the canteen, the gym and to the library. Sakura thought, really, that there was nothing much to show the new guy.

"You'll adjust soon," she said as they walked towards their first class. There was only less than five minutes left but Sakura told Eriol that it was better for him to tell the teacher that he would be joining them for the next class.

"Hey, you know, I've been thinking about your name," Eriol suddenly said.

Sakura looked at him, interested. "What about it?" she asked amusingly.

"Aren't you the fiancé of Li Syaoran?" he blurted just as they turned the corner to the room. And she actually thought that he was going to say how lovely her name was.

"Hehe, yeah," she said, sounding uncertain.

"But where's your ring?" he asked, glancing at her empty finger.

Sakura automatically hid her arm behind her, away from Eriol's sight. And then, before she could reply, the bell rang. She sighed inwardly and hurried towards the room. Eriol paced up too and managed to catch up to her.

That was when Sakura noticed Ken and Yuri standing outside the room. She slowed down a bit as her classmates were going out of the room.

"I think you should go inside, Hirigazawa-san," she said, stopping near Ken and Yuri.

Eriol hesitated, as if still waiting for her to answer his lingering question. "You'll be okay," she assured him then he finally went inside.

Just as he entered the room, Syaoran went out. The two stopped in front of each other. Syaoran glared at the new guy, recognizing him as his second cousin. On the other hand, Eriol smirked at his direction.

"What are you—" Syaoran didn't get to finish his question.

"I think you need some explaining to do to your fiancé," Eriol said in a volume that only Syaoran could hear as he passed by him.

Registering Eriol's words, Syaoran completely walked out of the room and saw Sakura by Ken and Yuri. When their eyes met, Sakura looked away quickly and slightly backed away. He knew that she was there to talk to their teacher before their next class starts.

He took this moment to approach her and to finally talk to her. He needed to clear things up.

Sakura didn't have the chance to back away from Syaoran because of the number of students walking in the hallway.

"Talk to me, Sakura," he pleaded, holding both of her shoulders.

She didn't make a move to move his hands away. Instead, she looked up at him with flaring eyes. Syaoran had never seen so much anger in her.

"Fine," Sakura gave in. "I'll talk to you but what the _hell_ do you _want_ to hear?" But she didn't wait for an answer. "Do you want to know when all of _this _is real?" She paused, seeing him flinch but continued anyway. "Do you want to know before you leave and never come back again? But what will be the point of that, huh?"

"Sakura…" he tried explaining but only her name came out of his lips.

Finally, Sakura shook his hands away from her shoulder. She looked up at him then said, "I don't even think it will make a difference if I tell you now since you're going to leave anyway. Heck, it won't even make a difference if you leave now since you won't be leaving anything important."

"That's not true, Sakura," he said strongly, looking at her straight in the eye. The students were slowly dispersing and the two bodyguards had walked away, leaving the two to themselves.

"_What_'s not true!" she demanded.

"That if I leave now, I won't be leaving anything important," he answered. "Because I'll be leaving you and you're important."

"Bullshit," she spat out.

Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. He _was _going to leave eventually and it was not like there were feelings concerned, right? Huh, what a total lie because why else was she hurting right now at the very prospect that he would be gone out of her life?

"Are you going to ask me now to give this a chance?" she asked him as she read him perfectly. She was fighting back her tears to fall.

"I don't see why not," he said, full of emotions but his heart breaking slowly at the same time seeing Sakura's tears building up in her eyes. He took one step forward, closing the distance between them.

"Every song ends," she croaked out, her tears finally flowing freely. She covered her face with her hands, ashamed of crying in front of him. He reached out to embrace her, smoothly putting one of his arms on her back and the other just below her neck. He let Sakura's head rest on his chest and kept it there while she sobbed softly.

"But there's no reason why we can't enjoy the music while it's still playing," he said softly.

During that enchanting moment, everything became real.

-  
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* * *

**Preview of Chapter 16:  
**_Eriol reveals the reason why he's there.  
Do the two tell the others that they are official?__

* * *

_**Author's Notes:  
**The last bit has been modified from what Peyton and Jake from One Tree Hill said. (Any OTH fans there? You guys rock!) Okay, the story is wrapping itself up. I hope you like it. I'm currently sick right now (I hate coughs!) but it has given me the opportunity to miss school today and write this baby up. 

Please review! I'm becoming sad to the decreasing number of reviews I'm getting. Make me happy, please review!

**End of Chapter 15.**

**xx DEVILZ CHIK**


	16. Blue

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK  
-  
-  
-

* * *

**Chapter 16: Blue

* * *

-  
-**

**October 4, 2006 – Wednesday  
****9:02am**

During that enchanting moment, everything became real.

All they needed to do was to say it out loud.

* * *

And he did not give a damn about anything else. All that mattered was that Sakura was safe in his arms and feeling her relaxed within him was good enough. He was unconsciously soothing her back to calm her down. It was such a perfect moment and he thought they could stay like that forever.

But then, there was a cough behind them.

The sudden noise made Sakura pull away from Syaoran rather roughly. She wiped her remaining tears away, using him as a shield to the person who interrupted their little moment. Syaoran turned around to see his second cousin with a slight smirk on his face.

Geez, he couldn't be less obvious? He was sure that Eriol disturbed them intentionally.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" Eriol asked innocently.

Sakura shook her head and forced a smile. Glancing cautiously towards Syaoran, she replied, "nothing at all. Did everything go alright?"

Eriol nodded with a smile on his face. "Yeah, the teacher was nice."

Sakura nodded back and looked at the two guys back and forth. "By the way, Hirigazawa-san," she paused and Syaoran flinched hearing her formalities towards his cousin. "This is Li Syaoran. Li, this is Hirigazawa Eriol. It's his first day."

Syaoran found it a little odd that his supposedly fiancée was introducing him to his own cousin. He was about to tell her about his relationship with Eriol but the stupid guy stretched out his hand for him to shake.

"Nice to meet you, _Li_," he said with mockery but Sakura didn't notice. Syaoran shook his hand unsurely and let go of it quickly.

There was an awkward pause among them and they all had different reasons for it. Sakura was still quite shaken about the fact that she was caught PDAing with Syaoran by the new student. Syaoran was still dwelling on the reason as to what Eriol's purpose there was and what game he was playing at. And Eriol was probably laughing inside his head right now since he very much knew that Syaoran was trying to figure him out.

Sakura was brave enough to speak out and break the silence. As smooth as possible, she excused herself and went inside the room to talk to the teacher since she missed the class.

When she was out of sight and out of earshot, Syaoran walked angrily towards Eriol.

"Tell me _now_ what you're doing here!" he hissed at him.

Eriol did not flinch. His grin became broader as he replied, "oh, you know, just checking how things are around here," he paused and looked back to the room where Sakura had gone. "And of course, to meet your fiancée. Xiao Lang, I thought we were closer than this – why didn't you tell me about her? She's a nice catch."

Syaoran growled. "I don't need you here and you certainly do _not_ need to know every single detail of my life!" he spat out. "If you touch her – even just lay a finger on her, I'm going to kill you."

Eriol just rolled his eyes in response. "I know what's not mine," he replied dully.

After that, Sakura walked out of the room and didn't even notice the tension between the two guys she just left. Syaoran was still pondering on whether or not to tell her that Eriol was his cousin. Would it even matter? What exactly would come of it?

Oh wow, Li Syaoran's cousin was in school. Who would be bothered by that fact? Well, maybe Li Syaoran since Eriol was born into this world to torment him and to be a major pain in his ass.

Syaoran certainly did not want input about his engagement with Sakura from him! And yeah right, he knew what's not his but that never stopped him from getting things that didn't belong to him!

Syaoran walked protectively closer to Sakura to their next class and noticed that Eriol was following them.

"He's in all of our classes," Sakura explained quickly when he didn't tear his eyes off of Eriol.

They were late for their next class but their teacher didn't mind since they were with the new student. Eriol introduced himself in front of the class and Syaoran was quite impressed on how confident he was. It was as if he was used to all of it, but he was home-schooled all his life also.

Syaoran sighed inwardly when Eriol left out the information that he was related to him. Maybe it would be better that way.

It was History Class and they were given a worksheet to work on with a partner. Sakura and Syaoran paired up while Eriol was left with one of the soccer players in the class.

They were working quietly when Sakura suddenly leaned in closer to make sure no one was going to hear what she had to tell Syaoran.

"He asked where my ring was a while ago," she whispered. It literally drained all the color from his face.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I didn't say anything," she answered. "I was saved by the bell. But I have a feeling he's going to ask again."

"Just tell him you don't wear it to school," Syaoran said dismissively, glaring towards Eriol's direction for a second. "Don't worry; I'll be there when he asks you again… if he asks again."

Sakura half-shrugged and went back to work. They were almost done since Syaoran knew almost all the answers anyway. He finished answering the questions before Sakura and he was only waiting for her to finish copying the answers so that they could give it to the teacher already.

She got irritated when she noticed that he was watching her so he decided to look around the room. That was when he noticed that Eriol was intently looking at him. Syaoran held his gaze until his partner asked him a question, causing him to turn away.

Sakura smiled as she finished her work and admired it momentarily. Syaoran never noticed before how neat her handwriting was. She took his paper and gave both their papers to the teacher. She happily went back to her seat and seemed pleased to herself that she finished her work in time.

"He shouldn't know we're just pretending," Syaoran told her out of the blue when the noise around the room became unbearable.

She looked at him blankly and just nodded, knowing full well who he was talking about but not really knowing _why_.

* * *

She was really caught by surprise when Syaoran told her flatly to keep their false engagement a secret towards the new guy. It made her wonder if he had anything against the guy or if he felt threatened by him.

When Eriol introduced himself in class, Sakura could not blame the girls with their reactions since she had the exact same reaction when she met him. Well, it just proved that her perspective was emotionally familiar. He was, after all, really gorgeous.

Just look at that dark, silky blue hair of his. And those midnight blue eyes. And his manly, oh-so-manly built. And his sexy voice…

Huh, was Syaoran getting jealous again? Could he read her that well now? Would he actually know that she was slightly infatuated with this new guy? Because that would be weird…

Sakura even felt slightly embarrassed when Eriol caught them hugging in the middle of the hallway. Oh crap, was she in trouble now?

But hey, she got to admit that Syaoran was really romantic. Maybe something would come out of this relationship after all – maybe it was really starting to become more real than they realized.

She just found it really freaky that Eriol seemed interested as to where her ring was. He was new! Ok fine, he could have seen them in the news but screw it – they only met and he was _interested_ where her ring was. Wasn't that so impulsive of him to ask such a question?

Maybe it was for that reason why Syaoran didn't want Eriol to know that they were only pretending.

Oof. She was tired analyzing it.

* * *

**10:10am**

It was finally break time. They quickly went to their lockers and Sakura quickly explained to Eriol how things worked in the school. She noticed Syaoran's cold shoulder towards him but ignored it. She took a mental note to ask him about it later, though.

Naoko and Chiharu had a chance to meet Hirigazawa during that time since they met them in the lockers area. Yamazaki came along afterwards. He invited Eriol to join the soccer team but he remembered that it would be too late to join the team.

At this, Syaoran brightened up.

"Try a sport next season," Yamazaki suggested.

Hirigazawa lightly shook his head. "I'm actually going to stay here just for one quarter," he revealed.

It shocked all of them but not as much as Syaoran who went in front of him and literally dragged Eriol out of the circle to talk to him by himself.

* * *

**10:16am**

Syaoran was finally tired of his games. Really, he had no right to just barge in his life without specifically saying what his purpose was.

"Oh, Xiao Lang, I absolutely feel your love," Eriol was saying sarcastically as Syaoran tightened his hold on Eriol's collar.

"Shut _up_!" he said, clearly annoyed. Syaoran pushed him backwards, causing his back to hit the wall quite roughly. He groaned at the contact and the pain it followed. He held on to the wall to keep himself still and glared at Syaoran.

"Do you think violence will give you your answer?" Eriol asked him directly, his eyes reflecting the anger in Syaoran's own eyes.

"Li!" came Sakura's shrilling and disappointed voice behind Syaoran. She pushed him aside to see Eriol's condition and looked back at him disapprovingly.

She helped him straighten up and her closeness with him annoyed Syaoran even further. He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms to control himself from what he was thinking of doing to the blue-eyed freak in front of him.

To avoid any more "violence", Syaoran simply walked away, ignoring Sakura's calls. He was huffing in anger as he walked faster and faster (almost running), getting as far as away as possible to the source of his fury right now.

He flipped his phone open and dialed Ken's number. He told his bodyguard to bring the car in front of the school gates since he needed to get to the bottom of all of this and the only way to do that was to get home and talk to his mother about it.

Eriol's nose poking around in his life was always a bad sign.

The doors of the school made a loud noise when he forced it open. He ran towards the school gates and waited for Ken to pick him up. He wasn't even sure if this was allowed – you know, a student leaving the school in the middle of the day without permission.

Well, of course it wasn't allowed!

"Where do you think you're going?" came a voice behind him.

Syaoran turned around to find Sakura running towards his direction as fast as she could. She must have left her bag inside, seeing she was not carrying anything. But that was beside the point; Syaoran looked back behind her to make sure Eriol did not follow her.

"Sorry for walking off like that, Sakura," he said softly to her when she stopped in front of him, slightly panting. "I need to go home."

"Why?" she asked, stopping in front of him, catching her breath.

"I need to ask my mom what he's doing here," he insisted, trying to make her understand but obviously, she wouldn't.

"What would your mom know about this new student?" Sakura asked again, finally breathing properly and looking at him.

Ken and Yuri finally reached the school gates and were currently waiting for their young master to finish his conversation with Sakura. Syaoran quickly glanced at the car then at Sakura.

Finally, he took a deep breath and answered her.

"He's my cousin," he said, disclosing the information. Before he could explain further, Sakura interrupted him, obviously more confused.

"He's your cousin," she repeated, receiving only a nod from him. "Aren't you supposed to be glad that he's here?"

Syaoran brushed his hair backwards, impatient to go home.

"No," he said strongly. "Please understand this, Sakura. Eriol… Well, Eriol and I can't really be called buddies and somewhere along the way, he always does something bad in my life."

At this, Sakura started smiling and was chuckling softly. She had just seen another side of Syaoran and she found it so amusing.

"Aren't you just being paranoid?" she asked him but all she got from him was a shocked expression with his jaw hanging open.

"No, of course _not_," he finally replied. "It's not a laughing matter, okay? He really always does something bad in my life!"

Sakura just continued grinning.

"Will you please believe me!?" he said in a tone of almost begging. "He always takes stuff away from me and right now, I think he's here to take _you_ away." Hearing that, Sakura's face fell.

Syaoran had a sense that he probably freaked out Sakura, seeing her expression. He cupped her left cheek with his right hand and tucked some of her longer bangs behind her ear.

"And I'm not going to let _that_ happen," he said with determination, slightly caressing her hair, earning a small smile from Sakura.

"And I'm not going to let you skip school because you surely will get in trouble," she retorted back, but Syaoran did not budge.

"But I have to go," he kept insisting. His hand fell on her shoulder now and he also settled his right hand on her left shoulder and gave her a little squeeze to further emphasize his point. "I need to know _why_ he's here…"

Sakura violently shook his hands off her shoulders and glared up at him.

"How exactly will you stop him from taking me if you're going to leave _me_ with _him_?" she asked, making a point.

Realization finally hit Syaoran. He relaxed a bit and turned towards Ken ad Yuri. He told them to leave and park the car again and followed Sakura back into the school.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, just proved how much power Sakura possessed over Syaoran and she didn't even notice it. And this also proved how much Syaoran didn't want Eriol to be close to Sakura and he very much was aware of it.

They walked towards the seniors' locker hallway to retrieve Sakura's bag. They found it almost abandoned with the students hurrying up to their next class. But the two never hurried. They took their time, well, Syaoran took his time and Sakura had no choice but to match his pace.

He was dwelling on the fact on what could Eriol possibly gain if he takes Sakura away from him. It wasn't like he was not allowed to be engaged with a Japanese girl, right? Well, if he was _not_ allowed, he never heard about it so too bad…

Besides, if Eriol was indeed planning to take Sakura away, he doesn't stand a chance. _Right?_ Syaoran thought.

They reached their next class, Math, seconds before the bell rang. They went to their seat but before Syaoran sat on his chair, he didn't let the opportunity pass to glare at his cousin. Eriol merely grinned at his direction, knowing that he was getting inside his cousin's head already.

Sakura held his hand before she settled on her seat as well to calm him down.

The class was a drag and it wasn't only in Sakura's opinion. The teacher went on and on about application of calculus and everyone could care less. It was finally the explanation as to why students learn calculus but they still could care less about Math.

Sakura had her eyebrows furrowed while Syaoran was looking disinterested as seconds ticked away.

All of a sudden, five minutes before the class would end, a note was passed to Sakura. She was surprised that she had gotten a note but more surprised by the sender of the note and its content.

_Say, how come you address your fiancé with his last name?_

_-- Hirigazawa_

Hey eyes widened after reading it. She didn't dare turn to the sender so instead, she passed the note to Syaoran behind her who was about to fall asleep. Syaoran opened the note and had the same reaction as Sakura.

He took it less easily though since he slammed his fists down on the table with the note buried in his hand. The sudden noise interrupted the class. All heads turned to him (with one face containing an amused smile).

"Mr. Li, is there a problem?" the teacher asked him, obviously surprised.

Syaoran stared on at the teacher for almost ten seconds before responding. "I thought I saw a bug on my desk," he said lamely, which earned quite a few chuckles from his classmates.

When the teacher assured that everything was fine, she began talking again while everyone else took notes just for the heck of it. Meanwhile, Sakura leaned her chair backwards to get closer to Syaoran.

"Sorry," she whispered.

Syaoran lightly held the back of her chair and leaned it softly on his desk. "Start calling me Syaoran, please," he whispered back and she only nodded.

* * *

**11:46am**

Syaoran was fuming as he sat across Eriol in their usual lunch table. The blue-haired guy was conversing quietly with Naoko and Tomoyo and Syaoran knew he was doing it on purpose so he would not have to face his questions.

Finally, with a final laugh from the girls, Eriol went back to his lunch and began munching on his cookies.

"Where are you staying for now, anyway?" Yamazaki asked Eriol.

"In my cousin's rest house," he replied, catching Syaoran's eye for a moment.

Sakura's head shot up at the mention of it since she knew where it was. It was the house where Li's press conference occurred, right. Syaoran was growling inwardly and yet again, Sakura had to hold his hand to keep his violence level in check.

Soon enough, the tension around the lunch table had to end since lunch time was about to end. Sakura held Syaoran's hand until they all stood up just to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid.

They said quick goodbyes to their friends and since they did share the same schedule, Eriol followed the couple.

Before they reached their class, though, Sakura excused herself to go to the bathroom. She looked at Syaoran warningly to behave himself with his cousin. "I'll be right back," she squeezed his hand one last time and tiptoed to hug him lightly.

Syaoran watched Sakura go inside the girl's bathroom and stood by the wall as far as way from Eriol as possible.

"You can go to class by yourself, you know," Syaoran taunted. "You don't have to be a dog following us around."

"Yeah, right, you just want me to leave you two alone," Eriol said with a smirk. "Xiao Lang, it doesn't matter how hard you try to hide it from me – but I _will_ know the truth about this said engagement of yours."

"Can you just stay away?" Syaoran snapped but decided to lower his voice afterwards when the students passing by were stopping to look at them. "I'm not hiding anything!"

"Huh, then why don't you want me to meet your Sakura?" Eriol asked.

Syaoran took deep breaths to lower his increasing heart rate before replying. "Because a special person like Sakura should not meet a person like you," Syaoran said through gritted teeth with so much spite.

Eriol smirked again and appeared more arrogant to Syaoran than ever.

"Whatever," Eriol said, waving his right hand in front of him as if flicking a fly in front of him. "Well, no matter what, you're coming with me when I leave."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you _are_," Eriol said firmly. "So break up with your little girlfriend before I step in to do it myself."

Syaoran only looked at him disbelievingly. This could not be happening! Maybe it was all a dream. Yeah, that was a nice thought. A dream. Why did his mother fail to tell him this morning about his cousin's arrival, anyway? Did she know?

"You cannot be serious," was all he could breathe out, clutching the strap of his school bag that was hanging on his shoulder.

"I actually am," Eriol said simply. "So who's going to tell her? You or me?" Eriol waited for him to answer but he remained silent. "Hhmm, if it's going to be me, I'll tell her 'Sorry, Sakura, the song ends here now.'"

Eriol was clearly mocking him.

All of what was left of Syaoran's self-control jumped out the window as he came forward to punch Eriol. And the blue-eyed freak was too slow to dodge and Sakura (who just got out of the bathroom) was too late to stop Syaoran's fist from hitting the new student.

-  
-

* * *

**Preview of Chapter 17:**

_Syaoran gets in trouble for punching Eriol.  
__Will Sakura know Eriol is planning to take Syaoran with him?  
__Is Eriol bugging Syaoran just because or is he doing it to get Sakura for himself?

* * *

_

**Author's Notes:**

I am still alive. A lot of things are in store for the next chapter. Stay tuned! Please review. Sorry for the delay but please review and thanks for the reviews! Keep them coming, please!

**End of Chapter 16.**

xx DEVILZ CHIK


	17. Trouble

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**A****uthor's Notes:**  
I'm alive and well. Here's Chapter 17. Please review!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own CCS.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Trouble

* * *

**-  
- 

**October 11, 2006 – Wednesday  
****4:16**

Sakura stood outside the front doors of the school waiting for her supposedly fiancé finish his detention. The school grounds were almost empty. She could see a few students waiting for their rides near the gates straight ahead.

She sat on the ground, aware of the fact that she had to wait for another ten minutes or so. She sighed and exhaled up to her bangs. It had been a week since the incident.

Syaoran did more than punch Eriol. He pushed him to the ground and began hitting him continuously. Eriol was smart enough to fight back or dodge Syaoran's advances – if he didn't, he would have ended up as a bloody pulp.

She remembered how her cries were unheard. She remembered how the people, who were well enough to care about the situation, try to stop the two. But they were unstoppable. They were settling their own issues. It was obvious that the two were making up for the lost time that they didn't see each other to have that fight.

Finally, though, her brother came to the rescue and broke the two. Sakura did not miss how Touya eyed Syaoran with disappointment and sent a judgmental eye on Eriol.

The two students were sent to the guidance office and their parents were called immediately. Well, for Eriol's matter, his guardian who happened to be Syaoran's mother.

They were not suspended. Eriol made a rep for himself on his first day of school and Syaoran just tarnished his perfect image.

It was awkward between Sakura and Syaoran after that. It was more awkward in their lunch table. Her friends were not sure how to act towards Eriol but within the past week, they had been making progress.

Lost in her thoughts, Sakura did not notice the person who sat down beside her cautiously.

"I hope it's not me you're thinking about," she heard the person say. She turned around and was surprised to see Eriol there. They were never alone together before, as Syaoran made it clear that he would not allow his cousin to be with Sakura.

Sakura looked forward, refusing to look at Eriol. He had put everyone in a very difficult situation. She was starting to believe that Syaoran was right – Eriol meant trouble.

"Because I know how jealous Xiao Lang gets," he continued.

"I wasn't thinking about you," Sakura replied dully.

Eriol only grinned at her response. He stayed there and welcomed the silence between them. He was aware of the fact that he was not wanted there, but oh well… He was bored.

"So… how did you and Xiao Lang get together?" he asked casually, slightly turning to his side to look at Sakura.

Sakura still refused to look at him, her eyes fixed at the front gates. "None of your business," she said.

"Why are you giving me the cold shoulder?" Eriol asked all of a sudden.

This caused Sakura to turn her head to glare at the new student. At that moment, she could not believe that she had bothered to lay her eyes on him on his first day of school. _I also thought that he was awesome_, she shivered at the thought.

"Because… you're ruining everything," Sakura blurted out slowly. Though she knew she was annoyed at the guy, she still did not want to hurt his feelings. That was not her intention at all. "You're giving him such a hard time. Can you just stop it? Your presence is sending him over the edge and you're quite aware of that and yet, you still continue to bug him."

"But I've made it my purpose to bug him all the time," Eriol said matter-of-factly which caused Sakura to be annoyed at him more.

"Just… shut up," Sakura said, exasperated.

She refused to continue the conversation and remained silent. Well, Eriol did not say anything else again so she took that advantage.

She wondered though why Eriol was still there and he was not making a move to leave.

Minutes later, the doors opened and Syaoran went outside.

As soon as he saw the scene in front him, his supposedly fiancé with his loathsome cousin, his temper began rising.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" he demanded from Eriol, looking down at him. Sakura quickly rose up to her feet and was smart enough to cool down Syaoran.

"Auntie told me to get a ride from you," Eriol replied, standing up as well.

"Where's the other car?" Syaoran asked.

Eriol just shrugged and started making his way towards the gates. Syaoran followed him with burning eyes and Sakura was standing there, not knowing what else to do. It had always been like this ever since that guy showed up.

Sakura lightly touched Syaoran and this had caused his attention to be on her.

"Hey," he said softly, smiling at her. "Sorry for that."

"Hmm, it's okay," Sakura assured him. "Just… no more fights, please. I still _am_ your bodyguard. I don't want to feel useless again."

Syaoran took her bag from her and carried it for her. They started walking.

"I told you… I'd like to wave off that little detail," he whispered playfully and right then, he was the Syaoran she liked. It was as if he didn't have a bad side… as if he was perfect guy she knew.

"Oh, shut up," Sakura said. "I still get paid so let me do my job."

Syaoran did not have time to answer to that since Yuri pulled up the car in front of them. Eriol got in first. She followed after since she knew it was not the best idea to have Syaoran beside his cousin.

And yes, in her head, Eriol meant trouble.

* * *

**October 13, 2007 – Friday  
****6:45pm**

So it was not the best celebration Sakura could give Syaoran on his last day of painful detention. She planned to go with him to the planetarium, where he supposedly proposed to her, but when they got there, it was closed.

She should have checked first before bringing him here. Now, here she was, frowning like a child as if she was just refused to buy a toy.

"This is your surprise?" Syaoran inquired as he stared at the sign that said the place was closed for visitors.

"I didn't know it closes early," Sakura said slowly, looking up at the sky, examining its darkness. "Sorry, Syaoran… Maybe we can just go somewhere else…"

"Nonsense," Syaoran said, taking a hold of Sakura's hand. "If I knew you would take me here, I shouldn't have told them to close it early!"

Sakura gaped at him.

"This is my surprise as well," Syaoran admitted, rubbing the back of his head shyly.

"Great minds think alike," Sakura said, smiling.

Syaoran released Sakura's hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He led them to the entrance which was unlocked for the couple.

This was actually Sakura's first time in the planetarium. She planned to bring Syaoran there as her company and well, of course just to spend the night with him since it was his last day of detention after the incident. She actually wanted to be exploring the place together with other people in there but Syaoran's plan collided with hers.

As a regular planetarium, the place was dark. The ceiling was dome-shaped and filled with little lights that flicker like stars. After passing the reception desk, the entire floor was filled with information about various heavenly bodies.

Sakura and Syaoran only glimpsed at the pictures of the planets and the comets, not bothering about the details and such. They walked up to the next floor which was dedicated to the different constellations. Here, they stayed a little bit longer, making themselves comfortable lying down on the floor as they played the game that was designed for children.

The game was about the different constellation of stars – the most common ones, of course since it was for children. A picture would appear on the ceiling and the players would press the button which corresponds to the choices shown afterwards.

"Let's play another round!" Sakura said enthusiastically, reaching for the button again.

Syaoran only sighed and groaned. "I'll win again, anyway," he said.

She pouted. "You've played this a million times already, that's why! Give me a chance to win, will you?" she said childishly.

Syaoran cocked his head to one side, raising an eyebrow at her. "You sure you want me to do that?"

Sakura paused, thinking. "Actually, no… But it's unfair!" she pouted again. "I'll win next time!"

Syaoran then stood up with a big smile on his face. He held out a hand for her to help her stand up.

"Where are we off to now?" she asked him as they exited the game room.

"Dinner, of course," Syaoran replied.

Sakura looked at her watch and noticed that it was 8:48 already. They had been inside the planetarium for two hours already. That was fast. And indeed, she was starting to feel hungry.

Sakura was following Syaoran's lead to the next floor and she wondered why he was taking her there. _I thought we're going to eat dinner_, she thought.

"Ano… Syaoran?" she called him. Syaoran looked back at her. "Aren't we supposed to be heading to the exit now?"

"Our dinner's upstairs, though," Syaoran told her.

Sakura only nodded but she was clearly impressed with this surprise of his.

"I hope you're not planning to propose to me for real," she suddenly blurted out when she followed him to a balcony.

The table was ready for them and she did not want to ask how the food got there and why it still looked hot and fresh (as if it was just cooked minutes ago). There was a telescope not far off from the table.

Syaoran only smirked at her. "Why? Because you would say yes, right?" he said cockily, earning a playful punch from Sakura.

They shared a laugh together as they settled down on their seats and enjoyed a healthy dinner together.

Under the stars, the couple looked perfect.

* * *

**October 14, 2007 – Saturday  
****7:40pm**

Syaoran sleepily went his down to the breakfast table. He followed the scent of bacon and omelet and smiled in satisfaction when he took his first bite. Half asleep, he failed to notice his companions on the table.

"For someone who went out on Friday, the thirteenth, you look happy," he heard his mother's voice.

"The wind of unluckiness probably did not grasp him," Eriol's voice came after.

Since he had a nice evening with Sakura and had a good sleep last night, he chose to not pick a fight with his cousin this morning. He did not even want to know what he was doing in their house early in the morning.

"I told Eriol to come here today," his mother explained anyway. "And I think it's best to just let him stay here. We're family, anyway."

Hearing this, Syaoran choked on his water and had to stop himself from spitting out the contents of his mouth. When he got a hold of himself (and after Eriol watched him in amusement), he yelled out, "What!"

"Manners, Xiao Lang!" his mother snapped.

"Mother!" he said exasperatedly. "He has his own house. Why does he need to stay here?"

"It's more convenient," his mother replied in a stern voice. "He's leaving on December, anyway. It will be a waste if he buys stuff for that house. And I think it's best that you go with him by that time."

Again, he bellowed, "What! What about my senior year!"

"Xiao Lang…" his mother said warningly. "It's for your own good. I shouldn't have let you go to school, in the first place, anyway. Look what it's bringing to our family."

"What is it bringing to our family? I don't see our family harmed!" Syaoran reasoned out.

"Auntie, I think I understand why he is upset," Eriol chimed in, calmly taking his time to drink his glass of milk before continuing. "He is, after all, going to be leaving Kinomoto-san."

Syaoran suddenly paled and silently prayed that his mother would not reveal the truth to Eriol. He held his breath until his mother spoke.

"I don't see any problem about that," his mother said dismissively. She took one last sip of her tea and left the dining room.

Eriol cocked his eyebrow interestedly at Syaoran's mother's indifference about her son's engagement with Sakura. Something was up, he just knew it. He turned to his cousin who immediately looked down and started eating as soon as he felt his eyes on him.

Eriol smirked. He was going to know what Syaoran was hiding.

* * *

**2:40pm**

That afternoon, Syaoran could not believe that homework was taking most of his time. He was actually planning to do something with Sakura again today for a follow through of their date last night.

Thinking that, he stopped for a second. He realized that after that great night, wouldn't it be hard to top it? _No, you did not just think that_, he convinced himself.

He walked to his bed and dropped himself on the mattress. He stared up at the ceiling and he wondered why he was not one of those kids who had glow-in-the-dark stickers up there.

Sighing, he sat up just as someone knocked on his door.

"Come in," he called out.

When he saw who it was, maybe he should not have let the person enter at all. It was Eriol with a smug look on his face as if he had just won the best trophy in the world.

"What do you want now?" Syaoran demanded, still sitting up on his bed, not bothering to stand up.

"Auntie told me to give this to you," Eriol showed him a small black box.

Syaoran's eyes widened as he recognized what it was and he glared at his cousin for having it in his hands.

"Give me that!" Syaoran quickly stood up and grabbed the box from Eriol's hand.

Eriol let him have it but his smirk never faded away. He could see Syaoran's annoyed face and was quite amused with it.

"I'm surprised you've just ordered an engagement ring," Eriol taunted. "I thought the two of you have been engaged for a long time now," Eriol continued voicing out his thoughts. "That's why she doesn't have a ring yet, then. You haven't given her one."

"This is none of your business," Syaoran growled.

"It's unusual to propose to a girl without giving her a ring, you know," Eriol said, his smirk growing.

Syaoran only continued to glare, his grip tightening around the box he was holding.

"Unless…"Eriol paused, looking at him straight in the eye. The evil it holds never failing to be visible in Syaoran's sight. "…You're not really engaged."

Syaoran said nothing but avoided his cousin's eye, a mistake he made that Eriol noticed so well and used it for his advantage.

"You're not really engaged!" Eriol said loudly that caused Syaoran to look at him again with flaring eyes.

"If you're not engaged," Eriol continued. "Then I don't know what you're trying to pull here. And if Kinomoto _is_ single—"

Syaoran cut him off dangerously. "Don't you dare finish that sentence," he snapped. "If you think you have a chance on her, think again. _She's mine_."

He did not mean to sound so possessive but Eriol was getting to his nerves again. And wasn't that the truth? Sakura was really his, right? They were technically dating, right?

"Without a ring on her finger, she's not really yours," Eriol pointed out just as dangerously.

Syaoran could read between the lines – he knew Eriol was challenging him and he was _definitely_ up for it.

-  
-

* * *

Next on **Your Shadow**: 

_Eriol vs. Syaoran_

* * *

**  
Author's Notes: **I'm alive! Sorry for the _very_ late update but it does not mean that I haven't been active in the scene. In fact, I think I've update two of my other stories and have written a one shot which took time. I put this on hold because this story is coming to an end and I just want everything to go smoothly. Check out my other stories, please! 

Thanks for reading and please review. I hope you haven't forgotten me. Cheer me up, lovely readers! Review!

XX **DEVILZ CHIK **


	18. Happy

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

* * *

**  
Author's Notes:  
**Thanks for eveyrone who reviewed. I will be busy next week so I tried my best to get this chapter out this week. Enjoy reading and remember to review! And who else agree that Vic Zhou is _awesome_?! 

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CCS.

-  
-

* * *

**Chapter 18: Happy

* * *

**

**-  
-**

**October 20, 2006 – Friday  
****5:15pm**

Eriol was everything but dumb. He was smart. He did, after all, discover the superficial engagement of his cousin. Now, all he needed to do was to plan something to get Syaoran back to Hong Kong just like he was ordered to do. Well, Syaoran was not supposed to be in Japan in the first place.

He was not even supposed to be in school!

For Eriol, it was unfair that Syaoran get to spend his life happily in Japan with his mother, followed by bodyguards and servants who would do anything he asked them to do.

It was not fair.

It had always been not fair.

Eriol was part of the family – but he did not feel like he belonged to the family at all. He would always be following the biddings of the elders; hence, he never had the chance to enjoy his childhood. Actually… he did enjoy – but only for a short time.

He and Syaoran were best buds until they grew up and started developing different interests. Syaoran, for one, never liked that Eriol would _always _follow what the elders told him to do. He never understood why Eriol felt compelled to follow them. And well, Syaoran never really was good in showing how much he actually cared for Eriol.

Syaoran had always treated him like a brother. However, distance was a nasty thing. Eventually, Syaoran had stopped trying to show how much of a brother Eriol was to him.

The damage was done.

Eriol knew about the pretend engagement.

It would be almost a week since he knew, yet he had not done something about it yet.

In actuality, he did not know exactly what to do with the information.

Initially, Eriol was glad that Kinomoto Sakura was not really taken as he had developed a slight crush on her during the first time he set his eyes on her. But as he watched Sakura and Syaoran that week, he could tell that the two shared something in common. And that it was hard to break them apart.

"You didn't have to make Hirigazawa wait as well," Eriol heard Sakura mutter from behind him.

Sakura and Syaoran had just finished each of their extracurricular activities and since Eriol was staying in the Li residence, he opted to wait for the other two.

"It's okay, Kinomoto-san," Eriol said politely, sending her a small smile and at the same time, ignoring the suspicious look Syaoran was sending him.

"Still…" Sakura said, her head down low. "I didn't mean to make you guys wait." She bowed her head apologetically.

"It was no problem for me at all," Eriol assured her.

Still uncertain though, feeling as if she had not apologized enough, Sakura forced a smile and bowed again. Syaoran was standing quietly beside her, observing Eriol. They were waiting for the car to pull up in front of the school gates and a deadly silence fell among the three.

Eriol was aware that Syaoran had told Sakura that he knew about the engagement being fake so he wondered why Sakura had not confronted him about it. Syaoran never did say anything else to him about the matter as well.

Eriol was expecting Syaoran to threaten him or something – it was a Syaoran thing to do, anyway. But he did not even say anything. He was mad but… he did not warn him to not tell anyone else about it.

The empty ring finger of Sakura caught his attention though. He looked inquisitively at Syaoran. Syaoran only glared at him.

_He hasn't given her the ring, why is that?_ Eriol thought.

Before they could be suffocated by the silence, the car pulled up in front of them. The three got in with Sakura in the middle of the two guys to prevent any physical destruction.

It was a quiet ride as usual. The soft music coming from the radio soothed the passengers and made them satisfied with the current situation.

Minutes later, Yuri pulled up in front of Sakura's house. Syaoran got out letting Sakura come out as well. He took Sakura's bag and walked with her to the front door.

Syaoran was about to give Sakura his usual kiss on her cheek when the door suddenly opened and revealed a very moody Touya.

"No PDA in front of me!" Touya growled at them. The two stepped aside as Touya shooed them away. Sakura's brother got in his own car and sped off to the road.

"Someone's PMSing," Sakura muttered. She locked eyes with Syaoran then laughed with him.

They just both found Touya being angry quite amusing.

"You better get going," Sakura told him after catching her breath from too much laughter. "Don't make your cousin wait any longer."

"Oh, let him wait," Syaoran said, leaning closer to give her a peck on the cheek. Syaoran was about to kiss her on the lips when she pushed him off softly and told him to go.

"Go already," she insisted. "It's getting late. You're going to be late for dinner." She smiled at him and took her bag from his hands.

"Fine," he said, sighing. "Good night. I'll call you later."

One last time, he kissed her on the same cheek but this time he did not miss the crimson color of her cheeks. He smiled at this and ruffled her hair before going back to the car.

* * *

**5:55pm**

They were on their way to the Li residence and it would take about ten more minutes before reaching their destination.

Eriol watched the display of affection between Sakura and Syaoran and could not help but wonder why his cousin would just _pretend_ to be engaged to such an amazing girl. Also, he did not understand why Syaoran was contented about all of it when he was clearly head over heels for Sakura.

_Why isn't he making the engagement for real?_ He thought.

"Xiao Lang, what are you up to with this fake engagement of yours with Kinomoto?" he finally blurted out as he took his eyes away from the road to look at his cousin beside him.

Ken, who was in the front seat, glanced at his master through the rear view mirror to see his reaction. Yuri was slightly distracted by the question, too.

"I told you – none of your business," Syaoran grumbled.

"It's clear that you like her so why don't you just propose to her for real?" Eriol continued. "You already have a ring for her – why don't you just give it?"

Syaoran did not answer.

Eriol rested his back on the seat and gave up getting answers from him. He had figured out that Sakura was the reason why Syaoran was being hesitant to go back to Hong Kong so with Sakura out of the way, maybe he would go back with him.

And the only way to get rid of Sakura is to make Syaoran fall out of love with her. And how to do that?

* * *

**October 23, 2006 – Monday  
****12:44pm**

Lunch time was way too slow in Sakura's opinion. She had finished her sandwich and was eating strawberry ice cream just to kill off the time. Her friends were all busy doing last minute homework due for their afternoon classes and she had nothing to do.

Even Syaoran was doing something. Even Eriol, the new guy, was busy with something.

She turned to Syaoran and poked his arm to get his attention.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, before diving her spoon into her ice cream to get another scoop.

"Just checking my math homework," he replied. "Why? What's up? You bored? Don't worry – I'm almost done."

Sakura just smiled at him and went back eating her ice cream quietly.

Tomoyo had gone off to choir practice and Naoko was up in the computer room finishing up the student's newspaper to come later that week. Rika was currently reading a book on their lunch table while Chiharu and Yamazaki were quietly arguing over their lab report due next class. Eriol was busy with Math problems like Syaoran.

She sighed as she watched her friends work. It was a Monday – didn't they have a chance to do their homework over the weekend? Well, that was what she did, considering that she was way too bored for her own good for the past two days.

Touya had been MIA (missing in action) since she and Syaoran saw him leave. He had called, telling her he was alright but she was not exactly sure where he was. Her father was thankfully at the house for the meantime so she was not alone.

"Okay, I'm done," Syaoran told her, bringing her back to earth. "What do you want to do?"

She shrugged. She really did not know what to do. "Something fun," she replied and was concentrating to think of something fun to do. There were good ten minutes left until lunch ends.

"I'm thinking of something fun right now that we can do," Syaoran said suggestively.

Sakura's eyes widened and slapped him playfully on his arm. "Li Syaoran!" she scolded. "You and your perverted brain!"

Syaoran laughed as Sakura blushed. "I was only kidding," he said.

The two decided to play a game of A-B-C-D which Rika and Eriol joined. During times when Eriol or Syaoran would slap each other's hands, it would be harder than when they slap the girls' hands. Sakura only frowned and wondered when the rivalry would end.

* * *

Eriol, Syaoran and Sakura had History Class after lunch and the three toddled to the classroom and sat down on their respective seats. Syaoran sat behind Sakura and Eriol was on the other side of the room. 

The class was not pleased to hear from their sensei that they would do an activity that day. The class was also not pleased when the sensei announced that she would pick the pairs who would work together randomly.

Syaoran would not have minded being paired up with someone randomly but when Sakura and Eriol's names were announced, he did not like the system at all.

He glared at Eriol as he made his way beside Sakura. Sakura only glanced at Syaoran and mouthed, "I'll be okay." She smiled assuredly at him as the sensei announced his partner's name. Before going up to his partner, who was a teammate of his, Syaoran looked at Eriol warningly.

Eriol and Sakura made a great team. They set aside their differences and worked their way through the task at hand. While Sakura was writing though, she noticed the redness of Eriol's hand from playing A-B-C-D during lunchtime.

She remembered how hard Syaoran would slap his hand and we all know the reason for it. She glanced back at Syaoran to see if he had the same redness but she could not get a glimpse of his hand.

Unable to keep it to herself, she spoke up, "is your hand okay?" she said, pointing to Eriol's hand with her pen.

He looked at his red hand and just shrugged. "I don't mind," he said coolly. "It was part of the game."

"Right… that's why my hand is as red as yours," she replied sarcastically.

Eriol smirked at her sarcasm and had to give her credit for talking back to him like that. "It's really okay," he assured her. "No need to worry about me."

Instinctively Sakura gently touched Eriol's hand and felt how warm it was. The guy was absolutely lying about being okay. His hand was probably throbbing. The little gesture, of course, was not missed by Syaoran who was watching them closely although meters away from them.

Syaoran growled inwardly and almost jumped out of his chair. He knew it was innocent but his mind was telling him that Eriol had something to do with Sakura's holding his hand. He probably tricked her into doing it. He growled more loudly, causing his partner to look at him curiously.

_Eriol – 1; Syaoran – 0_

"I'm sure you're all done with the worksheets by now," the sensei was saying. "It's time for us to check them and the pair who gets the highest mark gets extra credit for this semester."

Everyone cheered hearing about the prize and everyone instantly checked if their answers were all correct. Who wouldn't want extra credit in History?

When all the pairs were confident about their answers, the sensei began dictating the answers. The anticipation was killing them. Eriol and Sakura were both checking their worksheets which had the same answers. So far, they only missed one question – a question both of them were not sure about.

"And for the last question, the correct answer is Year 1946," the sensei announced. Eriol and Sakura missed that question. "So… let's start at the back – Onimura and Arashi, what did you get?"

"Twenty six," Arashi replied.

"Out of forty?" the sensei was surprised. "You guys better revise the chapter this week. Okay, the score to beat is twenty six." The sensei moved to the next pair.

"Thirty," the student proudly announced.

The sensei moved to the next pair.

"Twenty nine."

Then, to the next.

"Thirty five."

Then, to the next.

"Thirty six."

"Hhmm, getting better," the sensei sounded impressed. "Li and Ota?"

"Thirty seven," Ota said, smirking towards the previous pair who had a score of thirty six.

"Good work," the sensei complimented. "Imouto and Inoue, your score, please."

"Thirty six," Inoue replied.

"Not bad," the sensei told the pair. "Oh, I missed Hirigazawa and Kinomoto. What did you two get?"

"Thirty eight!" Sakura exclaimed, obvious that she had been keeping her excitement for a long time.

Ota groaned loudly. "And I thought we got the highest already," he muttered.

Syaoran could only growl and roll his eyes.

"That means you two get extra credit," the sensei announced. "Good job to both of you."

Sakura's and Eriol's hands met in the air for a high-five.

_Eriol – 2; Syaoran – 0 _

Sakura did a little dance which Eriol and the whole class chuckled at. Seconds later, after the sensei had taken note of their names, the students were all instructed to go back to their seats.

"It's great having you as a partner," Eriol told Sakura before he went back to his seat.

"Same here," Sakura said politely.

Syaoran settled behind Sakura and was snickering as the two shared a small conversation.

_Whatever, _was all Syaoran could think about.

* * *

**2:30pm**

The final bell echoed throughout the school, marking the end of the Monday classes. The hallways were full of students hurrying to their lockers, to their practices or to the parking lot.

Three students, though, could be seen walking idly to the senior locker hallway with great enough distance among them.

In the front was Eriol who could not care less what he had stirred up between the couple behind him. Sakura was closely following him, a pout on her lips as she was not sure why Syaoran had been giving her the cold shoulder all afternoon. And Syaoran, with a smug look on his face, glaring at the back of his cousin, his hands on his pockets. He was clearly in a bad mood with the turnabouts of the day.

Eriol ended up having at least five points while he did not make any. He was too busy being angry and annoyed to even approach Sakura to make up for something.

Eriol opened his locker and took out the things he needed and packed them all in his bag. He approached his cousin and Sakura whose lockers were beside each other.

"I'm going now," Eriol told the two. "I think Ken and Yuri will be back to pick you up after your soccer practice."

"Not going to wait today?" Syaoran mocked.

"As much as I would love to, I can't," Eriol said fearlessly. "I have stuff to do."

Syaoran did not even want to know what he was going to do. After saying goodbye to Sakura, Eriol walked away and exited the locker hallway. Syaoran finished getting his things from his locker and was waiting for Sakura.

However, Sakura was staring at her opened locker. She even looked like she did not hear Eriol say goodbye to her.

"Sakura," Syaoran called out, touching her shoulder gently. She jumped at this and turned to look at him. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, obviously concerned.

Sakura just shrugged and closed her locker shut.

"You tell me," she told him, walking towards the gym. "You're the one who's being mean since History."

Syaoran had to run to catch up with her. He knew, of course, what she was talking about and he would not blame her for believing that he was being mean to her.

"Sakura," he called out again. "Wait," he ran in front of her and held her shoulders. "Stop for a moment. Let me explain."

"Explain what, huh?" she snapped, clutching the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Syaoran," she said, more softly this time. "I'm trying to think if I did something wrong but I don't think I did so I'm going to just give you a little space for now. Is that okay?"

"No!" he snapped back, his hands dropping from her shoulders. "I don't need space."

The hallway they were currently in was fortunately empty so no one could hear the argument of the couple.

"It's just—," he paused, trying to think of the right words of what he was about to say. Should he include the face that he might leave with Eriol in December? "Eriol… Eriol knows about our engagement…"

"Yes, you told me about that," Sakura interrupted him.

Syaoran took in a deep breath before continuing, holding Sakura's gaze. "I think he likes you," he finally blurted out, causing Sakura's eyes to widen in surprise. "I think he likes you and I think he's _really _trying to take you away from me."

Sakura chuckled.

"It's true!" Syaoran insisted in an attempt to stop Sakura from laughing about the matter. "He even said that without a ring in your finger, you're not really mine, so he can easily take you away," he paused, seeing Sakura was still chuckling by herself. "Sakura…" his voice was so serious so Sakura stopped laughing.

"Well, it's not like he can take me away, right?" she said, a playful smile on her face bringing out the cuteness that he really loved.

Syaoran had to smile at that. "Yeah, he can't take you away under my watch," he said proudly. "But say… why were you holding his hand a while ago in History?"

Sakura had to giggle again as she sensed the jealousy in his voice. She loved that fact she could figure him out so easily now.

"I just asked him if his hand was alright," she answered truthfully. "It was really red. Thanks to you."

"He deserved it," Syaoran said arrogantly. Silence fell between the two and for some reason, they were both avoiding each other's eyes. Both had forgotten that they still had practices to go to.

"Sakura," Syaoran finally spoke up. He lifted her chin up softly so she would look up at him. "Eriol got me thinking…"

"About what?"

He could not believe he was doing this. And that he was doing this _now_. But the moment seemed perfect. Sakura was glowing.

"Your finger still doesn't have a ring," he trailed on.

"People haven't been asking about it, anyway," she told him, not knowing really where the conversation was going. "Besides, they actually believe me when I tell them that I just don't wear it to school."

"But you hate lying, right?" Syaoran inquired, fumbling something in his pocket now.

"Yeah… but it's okay, I guess," she said uncertainly. "Syaoran, where is this going?"

"Tell me one thing first," Syaoran said so softly that Sakura's heart fluttered. He held her hand gently with both of his hands and let himself be drowned by the emerald depths of her eyes. "Is this… Do you consider…"

Gah, was he stuttering?

"Syaoran?" Sakura was eyeing him curiously. Sakura was impressed – she was seeing a totally different side of Syaoran.

He took in a deep breath and held her hand more tightly. He shook his head and tried to calm down his pumping heart but found that he could not do it so instead, he pulled Sakura into an embrace, shocking the girl in the process.

His hands settled around her shoulders and he buried his face on the crook of her neck. Her scent was slowly intoxicating him. Sakura was shocked beyond being shocked and only wrapped her own arms around his waist.

"Syaoran?" she called out his name again.

Syaoran pulled away from the embrace and met her eyes once again. He was holding her shoulders again.

"Sakura Kinomoto, I'm in love with you," he declared, keeping the eye contact. He was surprised his voice did not falter. "And I just… I just want to know if–"

Sakura suddenly shushed him. The same smile playing on her lips was visible once again. She knew what he was going to ask her and she knew what to answer him.

She only nodded, not trusting her voice to speak out what she had exactly in her mind. And because she knew that no words could describe what she was feeling for him entirely.

"Really?" Syaoran asked her and she could only nod more.

He was the happiest guy on earth.

Syaoran hugged her possessively and his grin was getting broader and broader.

"You're so handsome when you smile like that," it was out before she could stop the words from coming out.

Syaoran could only smirk at her comment and they continued walking to the gym. Before Sakura could enter the changing rooms though, Syaoran called her back.

"Sakura, I believe this is yours," he said then threw a small box at her. Sakura was surprised but caught it with her two hands.

Syaoran had gone to the guys' changing rooms before Sakura could ask him what it was.

So she opened the small box and she found herself staring at the ring she remembered admiring in one of the magazines back at Syaoran's house two months ago.

She was the happiest girl on earth.

_Eriol – 5; Syaoran – what's the biggest number? Well, that's his score. _

_-  
-_

* * *

Next on **Your Shadow:**

_Meilin shows up.  
__Syaoran has to leave with Eriol in December, will he tell Sakura?_

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**Author's Notes: **  
C'mon! That was a fast update, right? I just read my story all over again before starting this chapter. I had the feeling that my story was not making any sense seeing the reviews were decreasing in number. But hey! It's not time to lose spirit – the story must go on and as a treat for all of you, lots of SS moments, yeah? I think the end was a little cheesy. Tell me what you think. 

Leave a review! Thank you very much for reading!

**PS.** Vic Zhou is _awesome_!

**PPS.** For anyone who doesn't know how A-B-C-D is played, check out my profile! It's there. I can't put it here. Too long.

**End of Chapter 18**

_xx_ **DEVILZ CHIK**


	19. Keep It

**Your Shadow  
**By: DEVILZ CHIK

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**Author's Notes: **I love all of your reviews! Meilin is indeed in this chapter and I'm sorry to say but the next chapter is the last chapter. I'm ending this story and it brings tears to my eyes. Anyway, it's nice being with all of those who have followed this story all the way! I love you guys. And I'm quite surprised that I'm getting new reviewers and readers as well!

Your reviews and support are wholesomely appreciated to the max!

And uhm, I've been doing third point of views for the past nine chapters now? But now, I'm going back to the first point of view. Well, yeah, just thought of going back to the original style of the story. Sorry if I keep changing. Well, without further ado, here's Chapter 19!

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own CCS. _

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**Chapter 19: Keep It

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**October 23, 2006 – Monday  
****2:47pm  
**_**Sakura's Point of View**_

I was the happiest girl on earth.

Was I?

I clutched the small box in my hand and settled on one of the benches in the locker room. I could not even look at it again. I dropped my gym bag on the floor and brushed my hair backwards.

Was _I_ the happiest girl on earth?

"Sakura-chan," I turned to the owner of the voice. "Aren't you going to change yet? Practice starts in three minutes – we're meeting up in the soccer field too."

I looked at my co-cheerleader blankly. Soccer field – where Syaoran would be. My heart started to beat rapidly and I felt my entire body trembling in nervousness.

"Sakura-chan, are you okay?" the same girl asked me, walking towards me.

I sent her a painful smile at her. "I have a stomach ache – I don't think I can go to practice," I was basically telling the truth. I could feel butterflies in my tummy. "Can you tell Coach?"

She only nodded and she watched me walk out the locker room and proceed to the exit of the school. As soon as I was out of the gates of the school, I threw the small box in my bag and refused to think about it again.

Was I even doing the right thing?

Should I really be engaged to Syaoran?

But wasn't it… Wasn't it too soon?

Come to think of it, we had only known each other for barely four months. We don't even know each other quite well. I'm not aware of his regular habits… much. I don't know any personal things about him really. He doesn't even know me _completely!_

And now, we are officially engaged?!

Was this really what I want? Do I even really… love him?

Standing outside the school, I caught a glimpse of Syaoran's car – I could make out Ken's and Yuri's figures inside as well. Not wanting to be seen, I dodged out of their sight and decided to walk home.

It was a good thirty minute walk. Since I skipped today's practice, I might as well have some exercise, right?

What was I even thinking agreeing to all of this? Would it be too late to back out now? Would he understand? Was he even having a mind's battle right now like me?

Didn't this all just start as a means to protect him from all the girls who like him in school?

I was merely his _bodyguard_. Why am I ending up as his real fiancé now?

Was this a right step?

Oh dear. I shook my head to clear out all of my thoughts, only to fail when I could not get rid of Syaoran's image in my mind. He looked so happy – _I_ was happy.

But…

Was this the right thing to do?

Weren't we too young for this?

Do I really love him?

Damn it.

_Do I?_

* * *

**3:36pm  
**_**Syaoran's Point of View**_

We were given a five-minute break by our coach and the whole team headed towards the bench where the water bottles were. As I gulp from my bottle, I could see the cheerleaders practicing not far from the field.

My eyes searched for Sakura. But she wasn't there. Curious, I turned to Yamazaki.

"Have you seen Sakura?" I asked him.

He finished drinking first before replying to me. "She should be there, right?" he said, pointing towards the cheerleading team. He scanned towards the twelve or so girls and furrowed his eyebrows. "No, she's not there," he concluded. "Where is she?"

I only shrugged.

The cheerleaders were then walking towards the bleachers where their bags were. I assumed they were given a break too. I took this chance to approach them.

I tapped one girl's shoulder – I don't even know what her name was. But Sakura was the captain of the cheerleading team. Everyone should know her.

"Where's Sakura?" I asked the random girl.

"Oh, she didn't go to practice today," the girl replied, bending down to reach for her towel in her bag. "She has a stomach ache or something. I think she went home."

Stomach ache? She looked fine minutes ago – she looked fine the last time I saw her. I ran back to where my bag was and pulled out my phone. I dialed Yuri's number and I was glad that he picked up immediately. Huh, maybe he thought it was an emergency. Well, it slightly was.

It was about Sakura after all.

"Yes, sir?" Yuri's voice answered.

"Did you bring Sakura home?" I asked him.

"No," he answered, confusion clear in his voice. "Ano… I thought you both have practices today?"

"We do," I told him. "She's just not here. A girl said she went home. Did you see her go out of the school?"

"No, sir," Yuri replied. I could then hear him asking Ken. "Ken didn't see her either." There was a pause. "Do you want us to look for her?"

If she did go home, she walked. It would have taken her thirty minutes to get home. I glanced at my watch. If she left before practice started, she should be home by now.

"I'll call her first – to know if she's alright," I informed my bodyguard. "If there's something wrong, I'll call you again."

Odd, why would Sakura just go home? And, why didn't she tell Ken and Yuri?

Why didn't she tell me?

I finally did what I wanted to do – I made it all real. _And_ she accepted. I could never forget the moment when she nodded. But what was this now?

I looked at the field dreamily as I speed-dialed Sakura. I smiled when I heard rings from the other line but my face fell when it turned to a busy tone. I looked at my phone, confused. I tried calling her phone again but all I got was the annoying, _the number you have dialed is either switched off or out of coverage. Please try again later_.

Say what now? It was just ringing seconds ago!

Groaning, I dialed her phone number. It was ringing! Pick up, Sakura… Pick up…

Ring… Ring…

Ring…

_Kinomoto residence – we're not available right now. Please leave your name and your message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Ja ne!_

Answering machine now?

Was there something going on that I must know?

* * *

**3:41pm  
**_**Sakura's Point of View**_

No one was there when I got back home. I quickly went straight up to my room and dropped everything in my pocket in my nightstand, including my phone. Seconds after I lied on my bed, my phone started to ring wildly.

I lazily reached for it. My phone recognized the caller as Syaoran. Should I answer it?

_No, not when my mind's all over the place_.

So I turned it off, feeling bad about it afterwards.

But c'mon, you got to understand – I am one confused girl here. I need time to think. And I don't need the person-in-question a.k.a. Syaoran to be interfering with my thought processing. I think it's best that I lay low for now…

Soon after, our home phone started ringing; I assumed it was Syaoran so I just let the answering machine pick it up. From inside my room, I heard the beep sounded off and then Syaoran leaving his message.

"_Hey, just wanted to make sure you went home safe. You shouldn't have walked – Yuri and Ken could have dropped you off. Call me back when you get this. Get some rest too. Uhm, take care. I'll see you."_

Beep.

I sighed after hearing his message. It's not impossible to hear it anyway. The answering machine was basically just outside my door and I always leave my door open so yeah…

Oh God, what am I supposed to do now? I know that running away was not going to do anything. And I know sooner or later, I should tell Syaoran about my doubts about this.

But… I don't want to tell him.

I should find my composure first – I should clear my mind first.

Yeah, that's what I should do.

But, exactly… how would I do that?

Let's lay it all out, first.

Let's make a pros and cons list.

What were the cons?

_1. Too young to be engaged. Really.  
__2. Barely know each other.  
__3. Uhm, his family? Would they ever agree to this? I don't think they would take this lightly.  
__4. Touya.  
__5. He's leaving._

And that's the thing! Geez, he's _leaving_. What, he actually expects me to wait? What if he forgets that someone is waiting for him? Or does he expect us to marry before he leaves?

If that's the case, well, I'm _definitely _not ready for that.

That should be part of the list.

_6. Not sure if I'm ready. _

Ever since I started becoming aware of my surroundings and ever since I got a taste of life… I knew that in situations like this – you don't just jump into it.

But that's exactly what we're doing, right?

We are _so_ jumping.

We totally just took a big leap.

_I_ totally just took a big step when I nodded my answer to him.

Gah, this was way too much for a Monday.

So… no more cons?

Let's get on with the pros.

_1. He's an amazing guy.  
__2. He's a wonderful guy.  
__3. I like being around him.  
__4. He's just… awesome.  
__5. He's so… sincere.  
__6. It just feels so right._

It feels right that in a way, it's totally wrong. Wait… haha, that doesn't make any sense at all. But when he asked the question – I just knew in my heart that the correct answer was yes.

That if I had said no, that would have been the greatest mistake of my life.

That if I had said no, my world would have ended right there and then.

But I didn't say no… I said yes.

Because maybe… I really _do_ want to spend the rest of my life with him.

To hell with all the doubts in my head – I'm engaged to Li Syaoran and right now, I think I'm sure that I am indeed the happiest girl on earth.

* * *

**5:14pm  
**_**Syaoran's Point of View**_

Still worried about Sakura, right after our coach dismissed us, I ran to get my phone but was disappointed when there were no messages from Sakura. I got one message though, it was from Eriol.

_You need to be home as soon as possible. I think it's better to bring Sakura along._

I scoffed at the message and totally ignored the 'as soon as possible' that were in all capital letters. Why did I need to be home?

If it was important, he could have stated it in his message but since he could not spend time typing the reason as to why I have to go 'as soon as possible', then that's just too bad.

I tried to call Sakura's phone again but got a busy tone. While walking to the car, I called her home phone number and felt even more down when I heard a busy tone as well.

Actually, if it was busy then that should mean that someone was in the house. It was barely five thirty; her father would not be home yet and as far as I know, Touya had not been home. So… that would mean that Sakura was indeed at home.

I sighed in relief. I then noticed Ken and Yuri looking at me.

"What is it?" I asked them.

"We received a message from Kouta at the mansion," Ken answered. "He said we need to go back there as quickly as possible."

I nodded in understanding. I guess Eriol did mean his message. What was so urgent though?

"Yeah, let's go home," I told them. "I think Sakura's home already so it's okay."

Ken sped up to the mansion which was really starting to make me think that it was _very_ urgent, whatever the reason was. I marched up to the front steps, opened the door quietly and slowly took off my shoes.

The house was unusually quiet for my taste. I know that Eriol was at home since the car that brought him home was neatly parked in the garage. Mother was at home as well since there were incredible numbers of bodyguards but why was it so… quiet?

"I'm home!" I announced to no one in particular.

I then saw Wei approaching me to where I was and offered to take my bag to my room.

"What's happening, Wei?" I asked my ever-so-loyal butler.

He had that look in his face that I don't usually see and really, what was happening here?

"Meilin-sama arrived," he stated simply and went up to my room with my bag.

I frowned as soon as I heard this. I knew it was not a joke since Wei would not joke about something like this. Why was she here?

What is up with my cousins just barging in like this?

Assuming that Meilin was in my mother's office, I went there to welcome her in our humble house. I knocked softly and after hearing my mother's voice of "come in", I entered the room silently.

As soon as I went inside the room, I found myself looking at Meilin with the same ruby eyes and jet black hair that she always had. Huh, there was no mistaking it – it was definitely her.

"Syaoran!" she squealed happily, running up to me for an embrace. "I'm so happy to see you! It's been so long!"

I pulled out of the hug. "I'm happy to see you, too, Meilin. You haven't changed one bit."

She just shrugged and unconsciously checked herself over I smirked at this – ah, she would never change.

"Syaoran, take a seat," my mother's voice chimed in. "We have an important issue to discuss."

I obeyed my mother and took a seat on the couch beside Meilin. My mother and Eriol were sitting beside each other on the other couch.

"I'll get straight to the point," my mother said sharply. "It is really necessary for you to come back home with them this December."

What!

"What!" I bellowed, clenching my fists. Not this conversation again…

"Let me finish," she snapped. "The elders who are currently taking care of things in Hong Kong for you since you are here in Japan are all ill. The death threats have died down. You are safe to go back. It's time for you to take the position as the leader of the family."

"Mother, I thought we've talked about this – I'm not going back until my school year is over," I reasoned out.

Meilin turned to me quickly. "You're going to school?" She paused and observed me quietly. "That explains the uniform," she muttered.

"Syaoran, you can easily quit school," Mother said. "What's important now is that you come home this December and commence the training you still need in the business."

"No!" I said stubbornly. I had stood up now, not caring that I was still in front of my mother. "We clearly have different definitions of what's important, mother. For me, my life here right now is important…"

"You made a commitment to this family even _before_ I sent you to school, Syaoran," she had risen up from her seat as well. "I didn't know you would forget about that. And it's final – you're leaving after this semester ends."

"But Mother—" I tried again to reason with her but she was not listening to me anymore. "I can't just leave Sakura…" There, that was really the main reason why I didn't want to go.

When Mother had agreed that I could go to school, I knew I was going to leave but I didn't know Sakura would be in my life like this.

I didn't know she was going to happen.

"Sakura? Who's Sakura?" I heard Meilin ask us.

"She's his bodyguard in school," Eriol answered and I growled at this.

She was more than my bodyguard!

She was more than my bodyguard now!

"Shut up, Eriol," I snapped at him. "You don't know the first thing about her."

"I know enough," he snapped back. "I know enough that you're practically toying with her pretending to be engaged with her."

I was clenching my fists again and was gritting my teeth uncontrollably. The nerve of this guy! I was close to pouncing him. If it wasn't for my mother's presence in the room, I would have done so.

Meilin gasped at what Eriol said and looked at me disbelievingly. Mother was shaking her head and was looking down on the floor. They both looked like I was such an embarrassment in the family.

"We're not pretending anymore," I mumbled but loud enough for them to hear.

This had shut Eriol up but this made my Mother going at it again.

"I told you to take care of it, Syaoran!" she cried. "Why did you do this? I warned you not to do anything to ruin the girl. You _are_ leaving – that fact would never change. How do you plan to make this work?"

I remained silent.

I didn't think that far ahead, I have to admit.

But I just love Sakura so much that I can't even explain it. For the short time that I've known her, I felt like we've met each other before and had made unforgettable memories together. With her, everything was just right.

Without her, I'm as good as being dead.

Silence fell in the room. No one was looking at each other. Meilin was shifting uncomfortably in her seat and Eriol had finally wiped off that smug look on his face.

Mother finally gave out a sigh.

"Think about Sakura now, Syaoran," she told me softly. "Think very hard about it, okay? I'm sorry you have to leave but that's just the way it is. Don't think that I'm against your relationship with Sakura – I'm actually happy that you've found someone to be with but—"

"I understand, mother," I interrupted her, slowly calming down now.

I admit this was really my mess. I was made to fix things but could I think of a way to clean this up?

I would never want to let go of Sakura even if that would be my only option.

I slowly made my way to the door assuming that it was the end of the discussion. Before I could exit though, Meilin called me back.

"Put on your formal attire, by the way," she chirped, as if the tension was completely gone. "We're going to a dinner party. Be ready by seven."

I merely nodded, not really minding where to go for dinner tonight.

I walked like a zombie up to my room, feeling as though I was carrying the world behind my back.

How would I tell this to Sakura?

_I don't want to leave._

* * *

**6:53pm  
**_**Sakura's Point of View**_

I found myself in front of the gates of the Li Mansion. I waved at the guard standing by the gate.

"Anything you need, miss?" the guard asked me as he looked me over.

"I need to see Li Syaoran, please," I said in a very unusually cheerful voice. Don't ask me why I'm acting so happy in front of this guard.

"May I ask who you are, please?" the guard asked courteously.

"Sakura Kinomoto, sir," I said, trying to sound serious. But really, I was finding it hard to control my laughter because clearly this guard was not aware that I was in the same agency as he does and I was the bodyguard of Syaoran in school.

He must be new.

"Wait here, please," he said politely before turning around to talk on his walkie-talkie.

I could make out what he was reporting – it was predictable, anyway. What amazed me really was when he said 'over' and he looked at me again.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Sakura," he said, rubbing the back of his head and bowing repeatedly. "I didn't know you were Kinomoto Touya's sister – please come in."

He opened the gates for me and let me come in. I smiled at him one last time and thanked him. I skipped towards the front door of their house. I rose up my right hand to ring the doorbell but the door opened before my finger reached the button.

"'nii-chan?!" I cocked my head to one side and narrowed my eyes to make sure I was seeing correctly.

My brother who had just walked out of the house moodily had been in Syaoran's house? What is going on?

By the looks of it, he seemed to be back as a bodyguard of the Li's. How come Syaoran never mentioned this tiny detail?

"The gaki's up in his room; just go up ahead," he said in a monotone voice, pointing at the direction of the stairs. "I don't even want to know why you're here." With that, he gave me a little push towards the staircase and whistled away as if he did not do anything.

"I don't want to know why you didn't tell me you're back here," I muttered under my breath but my brother caught the words.

"Well, if you want to know, I'm not tailing the gaki – I'm here because of his other cousin," he explained shortly and walked away from me.

He left me on the foot of the stairs with no choice but to ascend them.

Huh, another cousin – why were Syaoran's cousins flocking here all of a sudden?

I reached the second floor and I was surprised that I could still remember where Syaoran's room was. I could see two distinct figures standing outside his door and I assumed it was Ken and Yuri.

I greeted them and they were a bit surprised that I was there.

"Hey there, guys!" I said cheerfully. Wasn't I so awfully cheerful today?

Maybe it was because I had cleared enough doubts in my mind and I just wanted to see Syaoran. I didn't know why but after clearing my head (and eating a couple of chocolates), I had this sudden urge to see him.

"He's inside," Ken said simply, opening the door for me.

I walked inside Syaoran's room and Ken closed the door as soon as I went in.

"Closet!" I heard Syaoran call out.

I arched one of my eyebrows, confused as to why he was telling me that he was in the closet. He better be decent. His walk-in closet was slightly open. I decided to peek in at first just to make sure he was fully clothed somehow.

* * *

**7:07pm  
**_**Syaoran's Point of View**_

I heard my door open then close and I was sure glad that Wei was finally here. I had been struggling with my tie for the last ten minutes and I actually thought of not wearing a tie at all. I was even more surprised to know that neither of my bodyguards outside knew how to tie a tie.

Apparently, there were tied ties already that you can buy and just wear. Well, I didn't have those so I had to be stuck with this crazy tie that I could not… tie.

"Closet!" I shouted. Footsteps then approached towards my closet but I was curious as to why Wei was taking his time coming inside. I finally gave up and threw the tie aside angrily. Screw it. I examined myself in front of the mirror. Without a tie was good enough.

When I turned around to look at the door, I saw Sakura with a playful smile on her lips. Had she been there all along?

She was giggling as she walked towards me.

"I'm surprised you don't know how to tie a tie," she teased. She picked up the tie that I just threw away.

"I'm surprised you're here," I said, watching her.

She wrapped the tie around her own neck and started doing some complicated things with it. She was wearing a simple shirt with a collar so the tie fitted perfectly around her neck. After a while, she looked like a stereotypical punk star with a tie and her slightly baggy black Capri that ended three-fourths down her legs.

"… And I'm surprised you know how to do that," I added shortly afterwards she smirked towards me at the mirror.

"I learned it from school, actually," she said sheepishly. "Well, it doesn't really look good on me so here you go…"

She loosened the tie enough to bring it through her head. She then placed it around my neck and pulled the knot up. Her fist stayed in front of my throat and for a moment I thought she was going to choke me. But when our eyes met, the thought was quickly erased from my mind.

"What are you doing here, by the way?" I asked so softly. I was afraid I was going to destroy the calm atmosphere around us. "Are you feeling alright now? No more stomach ache?"

She forced a smile out and gently smoothened out the shoulder parts of my dress shirt.

"It was more of… butterflies in my tummy – nothing to worry about," she said dismissively. She continued removing invisible dust and dirt on my shirt until she held my shoulder and turned me to face the mirror. "You clean up pretty good."

"I think it's because of the well-done tie," I said, sending a smirk towards her. I fumbled with the cuff buttons for a bit then was trying to fix my very unruly hair.

Silence fell upon us until she spoke up. "Syaoran," she said gently. She moved closer to me; her hands behind her back. Before her hands could take refuge behind her back, I noticed that she was not wearing her ring. "I have something to tell you."

I did not like the tone of her voice. If she was going to tell me the only reason I could think of why she was not wearing the ring I gave her… screw it, I'm closing my ears to spare myself from the heartache.

"But first, uhm…" she ran her hand along my tie, making it more evident that her ring finger was indeed empty. I was still dwelling as to why she was not wearing it that I was caught off guard when she suddenly tugged on my tie and pulled it down.

Without a moment too soon, I felt her lips smack into mine.

Her lips were gone as fast it touched mine. I didn't have time to relish the moment. I was left standing there, with my eyes still wide open and my hands in mid-air as I stared down at Sakura, definitely surprised by her actions.

She was looking down shyly and she was still holding my tie.

"Why…" she did not let me finish my question.

"And uhm," was all that came out of her mouth. She finally let go of my tie then bent down a bit to reach one of the pockets near her knees. She pulled the small box I gave her this afternoon and held it out in front of me.

"I need to return you this," she said slowly.

"What? Why!" I exploded.

She flinched at my voice.

"It wasn't a proper way to give a girl a ring," she clarified. She reached for my hand and forced the box to stay there. When she was contented that the box was not going to escape my hand, she said, "it looks like you're going out. I'm gonna go as well."

She started walking away. And I was still shocked at what was happening. Her words ran through my mind again until I finally realized the real meaning behind her words.

It was my chance to properly propose to her but part of me was telling me not to do it. I would be leaving so it was better to end things this way.

When I hadn't called her back and she had reached the door of my walk-in closet, she turned back and looked at me curiously. So she really was expecting me to propose to her.

But… _I'm sorry, Sakura._

It was now or never. She was better off knowing the truth.

I was not sure what happens after this.

"Sakura, I'm leaving," I told her, catching her eye by the doorway.

Her face fell. I saw that clearly.

"Yeah, you told me," she said casually. So it didn't matter to her that I was leaving?

"I'm leaving this December," I added.

With that, she frowned, looked away and afterwards, forced a smile.

She breathed in deeply before replying. "I guess you keep the ring then," she said flatly then exited the door.

I didn't stop her. I had no right to. She deserved to be mad at me. In my opinion, she shouldn't have left me. She should have left me screaming in pain on my floor and I would have accepted any physical damage from her.

After a few more minutes of starting where she had previously stood, I grabbed my coat and wore it slowly. I glanced at my tie and remembered how Sakura fixed it for me.

I deserved to die right here and now.

I slowly walked out of my room, only to find a very menacing Touya Kinomoto. Never knew he back at the mansion.

"She was crying on her way out," he growled, trapping me between him and my closed door.

No one else was at the hallway.

"Look, Kinomoto—" I tried explaining but he did not let me.

He punched me hard on the face. I didn't dodge his attack… and any other attacks he made after that.

-  
-

* * *

**Author's Notes**: 

_Sorry, no previews for the last chapter. I need time to work on it so please be patient. I hope you enjoyed this one. I just realized it's harder to write in Syaoran's POV – and I'm thinking it's because he's a boy? Hehe, well, this is it for now. Forgive me for the grammatical mistakes. Please review._

_For those who haven't read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, you should. It's generally a good read, except for some parts that you would end up screaming your lungs out. _

_Please review!_

_PS. Some details would be in my LJ so check that out. The link is in my bio page. Thank you very much! Review!_

**End of Chapter 19. **

_xx _**DEVILZ CHIK**


	20. Goodbye, for now

**Your Shadow  
**_By: _DEVILZ CHIK  
**&&  
**

**Author's Notes:  
**The last installment for **Your Shadow**… I would just like to take this opportunity to thank those who have supported me all the way – you guys know who you are. You've been great readers and reviewers. I never expected to receive more than 600 reviews for this story. Every review I get makes me smile and feel all good inside. You have no idea how happy I am and honored to receive your support and your kindness. This is the last chapter but as I said before, there will be a sequel – it will be shorter than this. Watch out for it, okay?

That is enough for me. Here's the last chapter. Enjoy reading.

**Disclaimer:  
**_I don't own CCS.  
_

--------------------------------------  
**Chapter 20: **Goodbye, for now  
--------------------------------------

**October 24, 2007, Tuesday  
****7:18am**

It was common for Li Syaoran to be stared at – he got the looks, the walk and the confidence. However, it was uncommon for him to be stared at because he had a wounded lip, a stitched left eyebrow and a purple bruise on his jaw. He lost his usual stride, too. He was now slightly limping and oh, did I forget to mention that his wrist was broken as well?

His cousin, Eriol, was walking along his side, aware of the looks Syaoran was receiving. He was carrying Syaoran's binders and books as the amber-eyed boy was not capable of handling heavy objects at the moment.

Being injured was tough.

Eriol offered to walk with Syaoran to his locker so that he could drop off his things. Near Syaoran's locker were Sakura and her friends, busily chatting about something.

Naoko, who was facing their way, let out a gasp as she saw Syaoran's condition. Chiharu soon followed and let her jaw drop. Sakura had her back on Syaoran and only turned around when her friends were clearly not listening to her anymore because of what they were looking at.

Emerald met fiery amber.

Sakura quickly moved out of the way so that Syaoran could open his locker. She failed to hide the surprise and concern on her face. As Syaoran was turning the knob of his locker, Sakura only stared at him, quietly inspecting the damage on his body.

"Who did this?" she finally asked, unable to keep it in any longer. She also unconsciously reached to touch his face but stopped mid-air and let her hand rest by her side.

Eriol dumped Syaoran's books and binders inside his locker and slammed the door shut. Syaoran stayed silent so Eriol answered for him.

"It's funny how you can't recognize the work of your own brother," Eriol seethed in annoyance and walked away.

Sakura blinked and watched as Eriol disappeared into the crowded hallway. Syaoran was still standing there, as if waiting for her to say something.

"I didn't know…" she slowly said but her voice was barely a whisper. "I'm sorry. I'll uhmm, beat Touya up for you," she said, a little bit louder now. "He shouldn't have done this. There's no reason for you to get hurt like this."

She clutched the strap of her shoulder bag and tried to meet his eyes but he was looking anywhere but her.

The warning bell rang, alerting the students in the hallway. They scrambled out of the hallway and went to their respective classes. Chiharu and Naoko said their quick goodbyes to Sakura.

One minute later, the two were left standing in the middle of the hallway – just like many times before when they had the moment all to themselves. Syaoran was slightly struggling with the weight of his own bag but did not let Sakura notice this.

Trying to be as casual as possible, he leaned onto his locker and dropped his bag to the floor. Finally, he looked at her – the hints of sadness and sorrow evident in his eyes.

"Don't worry about Eriol," he then quietly said with his unusual raspy voice. "He's just mad because Mother made him promise to watch out for me here in school."

Sakura still frowned.

He sighed and finally met her eyes. "And Sakura, I deserve this," he insisted. "Your brother had all the rights to be mad at me."

"…But why?" she asked, totally confused.

"Because I made you cry," he replied.

Sakura pursed her lips and looked away. "I didn't cry," she said stubbornly, slightly pouting. "Why would I cry?"

Syaoran only sighed and chose not to argue with her.

"I just want you to know that I'm really sorry, okay?" he said sincerely. "If I have a choice, I won't leave this December and we'll still be engaged."

Sakura did not say a word.

"Sakura…" Syaoran called out her name pleadingly.

She hesitantly looked up at him. "I'm not your bodyguard here in school anymore," she said then looked around for any signs of Ken or Yuri. "Aren't you supposed to be guarded?"

"I told them to stay outside the school," he replied, not happy that she was changing the subject. "I don't want them following me around. But, Sakura... that's not the point right now. I need you to know and understand that I don't want to leave." He reached out for her and grabbed her shoulders.

"I get it, Syaoran, okay?" she said, trying to reassure him but her eyes did not fool him. She was slowly tearing up.

Syaoran could not take it any more. Here he was again hurting the one that he cared about the most in the world… and he was just standing there.

_You have to do something_, he was screaming in his head, but he just stood still. His feet were glued to the floor and his eyes would not leave Sakura's figure. All he could do was stare and watch as Sakura's first batch of tears started to fall.

"I knew that you were leaving," she continued, sniffing softly. "I just didn't know it was going to be this soon…"

"Sakura…" he called out her name pleadingly again.

Sakura wiped her tears away quickly. "Don't mind me," she said, shaking her head. "I just need to… uhm…"

Without looking up at him one last time, she turned away and ran.

**7:29am  
**_**Sakura's Point of View**_

I ran. I probably looked pathetic in front of his eyes, crying like a fool. Crying like a little baby. And I thought I had drained out my tears last night. I guess not. Facing him like that… Talking to him… Hearing that he was really leaving…

I made such a fool out of myself.

Why did I even get myself into this situation?

Why did I even agree to let him into my life?

Why did I have to fall for him?

Why did it have to hurt this much?

He didn't call me back. Maybe he did. But I did not hear it because as soon as I ran off, the bell sounded off throughout the halls. I didn't even know where I was going, you know. I just needed to be far away from him for now.

I didn't even worry about him following me. He was limping. He would be a fool to try and follow me.

I knew I was skipping homeroom but I did not even give a crap about that anymore.

My knees were beginning to give up on me so I decided to stay on the steps of the staircase. There were no guards around so I was safe right here. I leaned my back on the wall and rested to catch my breath.

Running and crying at the same time was tiring.

On top of that, I feel like my soul was sucked out of me.

I feel… empty.

He was leaving. He was leaving. He was leaving.

And I was not even sure if he was coming back.

I let my tears fall. I figured I could not stop them now. They seemed to have a mind of their own, escaping my eyes and falling down on my cheeks. They felt warm on my cheeks. I did not even mind the stickiness. I just… wanted it all out already.

Maybe if they were all out, this pain would cease. Maybe it would stop this tightening in my chest.

I sniffed and roughly brushed my hair back. Shouldn't I be stronger than this? Man, I was trained to practically knock people out, but I couldn't even handle that one person was leaving the country.

Why did _he_ have to affect me this much?

I closed my eyes shut and willed for the pain to just leave me alone. I rather feel numb right now than feel anything else.

It was… too much already.

Was it really like this? How _first love_ feels like? Or more appropriately, the _loss of first love_…

I groaned out loud. Yeah, I was stronger than this. I wiped my tears away and located the nearest bathroom where I could fix myself up. My eyes probably looked puffed.

Gathering all my strength and momentarily forgetting about Syaoran, I slowly stood up.

But as soon as I faced towards the bottom of the staircase, there he was.

**7:45am  
**_**Syaoran's Point of View**_

And there she was.

My eyes could only focus on how her green eyes were tinted with redness. Man, she had been crying too much. How I could let her get through all of this?

I dropped my bag on the floor. As best as I could, I trudged up to where she was standing. She did not even move a muscle. She merely watched me as I approached her. I was silently wishing to myself that she would not move… that she would not run away again.

And luckily, she didn't.

She was still slightly sobbing.

And when I was in front of her, on the same step as her… she wrapped her arms around my shoulders and embraced me tightly.

I was momentarily off guard because I was planning to hug her.

On her tiptoes, she hugged me more tightly and I wrapped my arms around her as well. I held her tightly and closely towards my body as if we weren't close enough.

"Sakura…" I started, but she only hugged me tighter, if that was possible.

"Ssshh," was all she said.

We stayed like that, just holding each other. There was a moment where we sat down, but the silence stayed within us. No one uttered a word. Our steady breathing was all that surrounds us.

But I knew… I knew that this moment would not last. I did not want to be negative but it was the truth, right? Don't get me wrong – I would want this to last but that was just impossible, given the situation. I know Sakura was aware of this too.

"Sakura…" I said softly.

I thought she was going to shush me again.

"Hhmm?" she said, looking up at me slightly.

"…I love you," I said sincerely. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," was her short reply. "…And I love you, too. But, it doesn't matter now, does it? It doesn't matter whether you want to leave or not, or whether you love me or not because you _will_ still leave."

I could hear the bitterness and hurt in her voice and it seeped through my soul, as if poisoning me. How do I actually make things better here?

"Sakura…"

She slowly stood up, breaking our contact. She held out her hand to help me up as well and she guided me down the steps as well. I did not understand what she was doing until…

"We should go to our next class," she said simply and did not utter another word.

She let me rest my hand on her shoulder while we walked and she walked slowly on my account.

We reached our next class just as the bell rang. As I sat down on my chair behind Sakura, her actions got me so confused. What exactly did she want me to do?

I already told her that if I had a choice, I would not leave – and the only reason why I would not leave was her. She was the most important person in my life right now. No one had affected me as much as she did for the short time we had known each other.

I could not promise to be back because I was not sure about that.

_I get it_.

All of this was not fair for her. None of this was fair.

Well, maybe the best thing I could do was to make this all fair.

**7:15pm  
****Sakura's Point of View**

I went back home alone and refused Syaoran's offer to take me back. It was just… too much. Maybe I should start getting used that he was not there. Maybe it would feel better that way. But when I got back home, I terribly missed him already.

Does he miss me too?

As soon as I dropped myself on my bed, someone rang the doorbell. It couldn't be Dad or Touya – they have keys. Who could it be?

I lazily went downstairs and opened the door to reveal my own brother. I suddenly felt disappointed that it was not someone else. Because for a moment there, I thought Syaoran was going to pay me a visit. Huh, I always expect too much out of him.

"I forgot my keys," Touya muttered as he entered the house.

Remembering what he did to Syaoran, I slowly walked away from him and made my way back towards my room.

"'Well, you're always so forgetful, onii-chan, so you're not worth of my time,'" Touya said sarcastically behind me.

I whirled around and faced him. "No, what I'm thinking right now is around the lines… 'How can you do something like that to Syaoran?'" I shouted.

Touya had already sat down on the couch in the living room.

I saw him roll his eyes. "The guy made you cry," he sad dryly. "I just did what I promised him that I would do once he hurt you."

"But Touya…"

"The guy hurt you," he blurted out. "The guy _proposed _to you and you're only what? 17 years old! It's not a joke, Sakura. I thought you're smarter than this. You can't be involved in this… madness. He's leaving, too. What are you guys gonna do now, huh?"

"I don't know… but it's not your call to just go and beat him up!"

"Would you have rather do it yourself?"

"Yes!" I said loudly, out of anger and frustration. "You very much know that I am capable of doing that."

"But you chose not to, so I did it for you," he said coolly, now standing up and walking to his own room.

My eyes followed him walk away and I suddenly felt so… weak and emptier than before. Weakly, I called my brother back.

"'nii-chan…"

He turned back.

"What do you want me to do, Sakura?" he said impatiently. "Go there and apologize? Okay, I'll do that. But can you just shut up about it? I'm only looking out for you."

I met his eyes and I don't know what happened. My tears just started falling uncontrollably. I saw my brother's face soften and he walked towards me, holding my shoulders to stop it from shaking.

"Touya…" was the only thing I managed to say.

Touya then pulled me into his arms and let me cry into his shirt. I realized that what I loved most about my brother was that he was strong-willed and… strong. He was always my support and he was indeed always there… looking out for me.

"He's leaving…" I sobbed. "Crapping hell, he's leaving…!"

And yet again, that night, I cried my eyes out. I probably should not be wasting my time, crying and moping around. Whatever happened to "let's enjoy the music"? Well, for now, it was not working.

Enjoying the music this time was difficult. It was difficult when the lyrics don't make sense and the music itself was fading away.

**October 25, 2007 – Wednesday**

I yawned as I walked to my locker that morning. I remembered Touya waking me up in the middle of night.

"Hey, job's calling for me," he whispered. "I'm going to lock all the doors, be careful, okay? I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"Hhmm," I was too sleepy and tired to form coherent words.

"Sleep tight," he said softly then left my room.

Come to think of it, why would the Li's call my brother in the middle of the night so urgently? Not bothering about it, I opened my locker and put back the books in my bag that I would not need for my morning classes.

Minutes later, my friends showed up and for a moment, I chose not to worry about Syaoran. Maybe it was time that we get back enjoying the music.

My eyes longed to see him but he did not show up until it was the beginning of homeroom. But, homeroom came and went and still no sign of him and Eriol.

It was starting to worry me already…

He was leaving on December, right?

When lunchtime came, I sneaked out to the field that overlooked the outside of the school and was surprised that there was no car on standby. Ken and Yuri were not here as well.

What is going on?

I was anxious in my classes and could not concentrate.

At last, when the last class was over, I ran to the gym, changed into my cheerleading outfit and ran to the field where soccer practice would be going on. I walked closely to the team, making it look like that I was there to get water.

The whole soccer team was assembled already…

"You might be wondering why I want you here earlier than usual," their Coach started saying. "But we have matters to discuss. As you may know, Li Syaoran is possibly the best forward we ever had in this team but it is unfortunate that he has dismissed himself from this school…"

I lost my grip on the bottle.

"…as of today. His family had decided to go back to Hong Kong for personal reasons…"

My eyes widened.

"…Although we have lost one of the strongest players in this team, we shall pull through and continue what we have been working on."

I ran back to my cheerleading team and mumbled something that practice would be cancelled today. It was only fitness training anyway. Grabbing my bags, I walked to the gates and pulled out my phone.

I dialed my brother's number but it was busy. I tried Syaoran's phone but it was no longer available. I tried Ken's and Yuri's but it was busy as well.

I groaned out furiously and paced back and forth.

No, he could not leave. Not like that.

He was supposed to leave on December!

I went back home quickly, calling out Touya's name.

He showed up in front of me, just as I was removing my shoes.

"Why are you shouting?" he said, confused. Huh, did he think I was in danger?

"Syaoran! Did he really go back to Hong Kong?" I asked urgently.

I saw the hesitation on his face and my jaw dropped unbelievably.

"The brat said he would call you," he muttered under his breath and followed it by a curse when he realized that I never got a call.

"Touya… why didn't you stop him?"

"You really think I could?" he argued then grunted.

"So when you left last night, they were actually leaving already?!" I asked angrily.

"How should I know they called me to escort them to the airport!"

"You should've told me!"

"Well, what would you have done?! Stop him? If he could stay, he would've already, Sakura…"

I was surprised that I was not crying, you know. Maybe I was too angry to cry. My heart was beating so fast that I think it could break my chest already. I literally felt like I was going to explode. It was too much…

I stomped my way to my room and played my iPOD on its volume. It was already connected to the speakers and I put that in its maximum volume as well. I think I felt the house shake.

_Many are the hours I lie awake  
__Thrashed the room in vain  
__Trying to waste the energy I never spend on you  
__Lying on this bed,  
__Never touch, not right now  
__If we're over this by morning,  
__That's the future I can't see_

"_Well, I'm gonna hate to see you go_," I sang on top of my lungs.

It was buried by the music, anyway. No one could hear my horrible, horrible voice.

And just as I was having soooo much fun, being angsty and… angry, there was an interruption with my music. I could tell that I would have an incoming call or message soon so I grabbed my phone and looked at it.

Ah, a call by some unknown person. I paused the song and answered the call.

Really, people, couldn't you tell by now that I was going crazy?

"Hello?" I answered, slightly panting. Who knew singing was exhausting?

Silence.

"Hello?"

No reply.

I checked if the caller was still there and the connection was just fine.

"Hello?"

Then, I remembered… _"the brat said he would call you."_

"Syaoran?" Still no reply. "Syaoran? I know it's you…"

And I was answered by yet again, silence.

"Fine, don't talk, because I will," I took a breath. "It's really unfair, you know – you just taking off like that. Didn't you even think of saying goodbye properly? But whatever, you're gone now. I don't even know if you're coming back so whatever. It's not like I have any proper commitment to you or anything so I just won't care."

I thought I heard him breathing.

"I did give back the ring to you and we never were _officially_ engaged. It was just something I could do so you didn't have to deal with high school girls, flooding over you," I scoffed. "And you know what… I'm _done_ crying. I'm not even going to wait for you – don't expect me to because I won't. And…"

I pressed the play button on my iPOD and lowered the volume a bit so it would be clearer over the phone.

_This was over long before we met  
__This was over long before we met_

I paused it again. "Have a nice life."

I hung up and I never felt so much better.

Touya then barged in my room.

"Are you trying to wreck the house with that music!?" he shouted at me.

I just shrugged and could not wipe the smile on my face. Who knew that I actually get over things so easily?

"You like The Color Fred, too," I reasoned out to my brother, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah, but don't play it too loud," he said. "Neighbors are looking. Anyway, the brat wanted me to give this to you."

Touya placed it on my table and left my room.

It was a CD. Curious, I put it in my CD player and listened to it. I was surprised that it was a song.

_Tell me that you're alright  
__Yeah, everything's alright  
__Oh please tell me that you're alright  
__That everything is alright._

I knew the song by heart and no matter how teary my eyes were, I refused to let the tears fall. I did tell him that I was done crying.

"Yeah, everything's alright," I whispered to no one in particular and desperately wished Syaoran could hear.

**Hong Kong  
****Syaoran's Point of View**

"Have a nice life," she said and hung up.

It was funny how she could tell it was me even though I did not make a sound. I hung up the phone as well and had to smile, knowing that Sakura was going to be alright now.

All I wanted was for her not to wait for me and to move on with her life. She doesn't need someone like me to hold her back.

Maybe going back this soon was a good choice.

We could always end the song and play it again.

I gripped the tiny box that contained the ring I was supposed to give her. I opened one of the drawers and put it there. I knew it would be a long time before I open it again.

I sighed as memories went back to me. It made me smile, remembering how this all started. She was just supposed to be my bodyguard… someone to shadow me for my own protection. But she became so much more… and in no time, I changed as well.

I smirked at the irony of it all. I desire for her to move on, but I could not even do that myself.

And then, I knew…

I knew that from now on, _I_ would be forever stuck in her shadow.

-----------------------------  
**The End,  
****for now.  
**-----------------------------

**Author's Notes:**

Credits go to: The Color Fred for their awesome song, "Hate to See You Go" and Motion City Soundtrack for their amazing song, "Everything is Alright".

Yes, this is the end of this story. Please watch out for the sequel. I hope you liked it. Thanks for everyone who supported and tuned in. Please review. For old times sake, ne? ;)

Well, as the chapter says: Goodbye, for now. ;)

_xx_** DEVILZ CHIK**


	21. SEQUEL

Hello dear subscribers,

This little chapter is to let you know that the sequel for this story is already up.  
The title is **Shadow of Greed**. Please drop by and read the story. Thank you very much.

Here's a taste of it:  
_No moments forgotten, no feelings vanished. Sakura and Syaoran meet again – are they ready  
to be together now… with the shadow of greed looming over their eyes?_


End file.
